


It Doesn't End Here

by ToujoursMiraculous



Category: House of Anubis
Genre: Amfie - Freeform, Another huge mystery to solve, Beating Victor to the punch again, F/M, Fabina, I'm totally making up my own answers for all the unanswered questions the writers left us with, Jeroy, OC Couples, Peddie, This show was my life, Walfie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-01-04 00:53:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 22,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12158247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToujoursMiraculous/pseuds/ToujoursMiraculous
Summary: What would happen if ToR was only semi-canon. Instead of graduation, another new year! With Nina and Amber's return, can they - along with the rest of Sibuna - keep Victor away from his latest hunt for immortality? Our beloved ships and new mysteries await!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so I wrote this like 4.5 years ago. It's unfinished, but I'd like to change that. Especially if I have readers. I will post it as-is, and may go back and redo some things on it. But for now, here it is!
> 
> Originally posted on Tumblr, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of you recognize it.

The students began shuffling onto the school grounds, running up to join their friends or looking around nervously trying to figure out where they’re supposed to be. A black cab pulled up in front of the main door. Meanwhile, the Anubis students were bringing their bags in through the front door as they arrived. 

“Trudy!” Alfie shouted, leaving his bags by the door and headed for the kitchen.

“Oh Alfie, all you ever do is eat!” Willow complained lightly, a smile on her face, Fabian beside her chuckled. “He’s almost as bad as Mick.” 

“Almost,” Jerome was helping Joy bring in her bags, along with his own. She walked in with a large suitcase.

“Be careful with those, I have some breakable items in there,” she cautioned.

“And you’re almost as bad as Amber, what’s in all of these?!” Jerome set the bags down and rested on the stair railing. Joy raised an eyebrow at the comparison. He was yet again comparing her with Amber, but she knew this time he wasn’t saying it to make fun of her. 

“I went on a bit of a shopping spree this holiday, and I couldn’t decide what to take with me so I took it all.” 

 

“Oh cut it out, that is NOT what happened!” Patricia and Eddie were making their way through the door now, both laughing in their own little world. 

“No, no, it’s true! Here, I’ll show you proof,” he rolled his sleeve up to reveal a red line going up his arm.  
“See, I had stitches there. Believe me now, Yacker?” 

“Hey guys!” Fabian greeted them, and patted his best friend on the shoulder.  
“So how was your holiday?”

They made their way into the living room with the others while they talked about their summer break. KT made her way down the stairs, having already put her things in her room. She walked into the living room, joining the rest of the students, waving to everyone, and shut the door behind her. 

“Hey guys, did you know there are 3 beds in each room upstairs?” 

“Really?” Joy asked curiously. 

“Yeah, and considering Mara got accepted to that geek school on that science scholarship, I guess we’ll be expecting two new girls this term.” Patricia said.

“Every new kid that comes along, you end up despising, Patricia. I feel bad for them already,” said Jerome. Joy nudged him in the rib. 

“Oh shut up,” Patricia made a face at him. Eddie laughed, holding her hand harder. He was glad to have his girlfriend back. He was glad to have his friends back, too. He was afraid he never would again.

 

While the students were in the living room, chatting happily, the front door creaked open. 

“Why couldn’t Daddy send the limo to get us? I mean hello, fashion designer here.” 

“I doubt anyone even saw you, Amber. I didn’t see anyone I know when we stepped out of the cab.”

“But Neens, I’ve been driven to the school in my limo EVERY year. It’s like a tradition.” Nina smiled and shook her head. She missed Amber and the school. Sibuna. Fabian… The thought of seeing him again made her nervous. “It’ll be alright you know, he misses you too.” 

“That may be so, but what if he moved on like I told him to? I can’t believe I wrote that to him. But I had no other choice at the time…” 

“It’ll work out. Trust me. Now let’s go put our bags away in our room. OUR ROOM!” Amber squealed. She missed sharing her room with Nina, she was like her sister. 

“Shhh! We don’t want them to know we’re here yet, remember?”

“Oh right….Sorry.” They quietly made their way up the stairs. It wasn’t easy with all of Amber’s suitcases.

 

“So, who do you think the new girls will be?” Alfie asked.

“PLEASE, not another American with powers.” Jerome held his hands together in a begging motion, he cracked a smile toward KT and Eddie. 

“And what’s wrong with American’s, Jerome?” KT asked, crossing her arms and smiling at him. She found his tone amusing. Eddie smiled. Even though he had many reasons not to, he loved being the Osirian. 

“It’s just…haven’t you guys noticed every new kid is an American? And every American that comes has some weird tie to all the Egyptian stuff.” That hit a nerve. Fabian cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. Even now, he hates hearing anything that reminds him of her. Joy noticed Fabian’s discomfort. As much as she loves Jerome, she still has a place in her heart for Fabian. After the chaos from last term, she was explained to that that wasn’t really Fabian who said all of those cruel things to her, and was able to pretend like it hadn’t happened. 

“Isn’t it funny how there’s still so much we don’t know?” Joy said, hoping to ease the conversation to a different topic. Fabian still looked down uncomfortably. He began toning everyone out, thinking about his memories with her. Eddie was his best guy friend, and he didn’t want him to leave. But at the same time, he wanted Nina to be there instead. Mara was a good friend to him, but he just couldn’t get himself to move on with her. Fabian looked up at his friends laughing and talking, and quietly left the room.

 

“Come on Amber,” Nina and Amber quietly walked down the stairs, still hearing chatter going on in the living room. Fabian had just shut his bedroom door.

“Everyone sure sounds happy,” Amber commented.

“Yeah, they do, don’t they?” She was really beginning to think her friends didn’t miss her as much as she missed them. 

They tiptoed out the front door. Eddie noticed Fabian had left the room. He got up, and quietly said, ‘be right back’ to Patricia as he left the room. He felt as if something was pulling him toward the front door, but when he looked he saw nothing there. He slowly opened the door to his bedroom, and saw Fabian on the end of his bed with his head in his hands. 

“Dude, what’s wrong?” he asked as he went over and sat on his own bed.

“Nina,” was all he could say. “Ahh…” Eddie understood. After what he went through last year with Patricia’s soul being taken from her, almost as if she wasn’t there at all, he could understand Fabian’s pain.

“We never figured out what ‘danger’ Nina was referring to when she said the Chosen One and Osirian couldn’t be together. Maybe we could find a way around it, so she could be here too. I’m sure by now her Gran’s okay.” Fabian never bothered to look up while he spoke. Seeing everyone happy with someone was a constant reminder to him. 

“Why don’t you message her then, buddy? It’s what, 6 in the morning where she is? She’ll see your message in a few hours when she gets up.” 

“Yeah…yeah…maybe somehow we could figure it out together. Thanks, Eddie.” Fabian smiled at Eddie, but it didn’t reach his eyes. 

“No problem.” Eddie got up and pat Fabian on the shoulder and started for the door.  
“Hey. Don’t worry, you’ll see her again. And if I can, I’ll help you two figure it out.” Fabian nodded and reached for his laptop. He hadn’t checked Nina’s profile in months, he was afraid of what he might find there. He took a deep breath, and went to her profile. He saw her “single” status first, and exhaled in relief. Then he started browsing her pictures. He saw she got to spend the summer with Amber in New York, and smiled. He was happy that they could still stay together. He just wished he could be with her too. As Eddie walked down the hall, back toward the living room, he heard a voice whisper, “ _find her_.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Find her?” Eddie whispered, puzzled. Who’s ‘her’? Eddie glanced toward the living room, and then headed out the front door, as that’s where he felt he had to go. 

“Why are we coming out here, Nina?” Amber asked, being careful as to where she walked in her new designer shoes. 

“I don’t know…. I just have this feeling. Like I’m being drawn here.”

They were headed toward the summer house, where Eddie and KT found the artifact not very long ago. Nina and Amber had not known what went on then, but Nina had felt that something was not right. It was part of her reason for returning to the old Anubis House. Patricia was looking around toward the kitchen to see where Eddie had gone off to, but all she saw was Trudy cooking in the kitchen, and Alfie stuffing his face with Trudy’s peanut butter cookies and blueberry muffins.

“Are you okay, Patricia?” KT came and sat by Patricia where Eddie had been earlier. 

“Yeah…. Do you know where Eddie went to?” she asked, still looking around for Eddie. 

“No…no, I don’t. I saw him go toward his room, but that was quite awhile ago.” 

KT looked over at Willow and Alfie, talking about the hedgehog Willow adopted. They were just so adorable. She looked around and noticed how everyone was a couple but her….and Fabian. ‘Where was he?’ she thought. She made her way down the hall to Fabian’s door. She knocked and opened it, not giving him anytime to respond. Fabian looked flustered as he quickly shut his laptop.

“Hey, why aren’t you with the rest of us?” KT asked as she walked in and sat at the chair at Fabian’s desk.

“Ah, I’m uh, just taking care of a few things.” Fabian quickly said while clearing his throat. 

“You okay? You don’t look like yourself.” KT looked at him, concerned.

Besides Eddie, Fabian was her best friend here, despite all the craziness and mistrust from last year. Though, she had a feeling she knew just what it was about. Nina. Sometimes last term, Fabian would be in his room lying on his bed thinking about her.

“Uh yeah, I’m fine.” Fabian wasn’t very good at hiding his feelings.

“It’s Nina, isn’t it?” she rested her head on her hand, her elbow on the table. 

“Yeah…. Do you have anyone back in America, KT? Someone you miss when you’re away?”

“No, not really.” KT answered. “I mean, there was this one guy I kinda liked, but no one special.” 

“Oh.” He paused for a moment. “What should I do, KT? Nina said she can’t come back because the Chosen One and Osirian couldn’t be together, or bad things would happen. But they lived in the same house for a year, and nothing happened…. Well, nothing that was caused because of that, anyway.”

“I could ask my great grandpa, I’m sure he’d know the answers.” 

“That’s brilliant!” Fabian was grinning now. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it before. He was certain Robert Frobisher-Smythe would know the solution to his problem. 

KT shrugged. “Glad I could be of some help.” She smiled and turned for the door. 

As she walked toward the living room, she bumped into Patricia. “Is Eddie in there?” she asked. 

“No, just Fabian. He’s down about Nina again.” 

“Oh…poor Fabian.” She looked toward his door sympathetically. _It’s been about a year now, since Nina sent that letter…._

“I’m going to try to see if my great grandpa knows anything about it that could help.” 

“Good idea, KT. I’m going to go look for Eddie.” 

“Good luck finding him.” She said, walking towards the stairs to get her cellphone.

 

“It’s around here somewhere, I think. Over there, by that summer house.” Nina said absentmindedly.

“What is?” Amber asked her. 

“I’m not sure. At least, I think I’m supposed to be looking for something.” 

The girls began searching around for something that might look like an artifact or a clue. Eddie walked toward the summer house, memories from last year creeping into his mind. Evil Fabian. Evil Patricia. Almost the end of the world…. He shuddered and continued looking for a girl. 

“Find Nina,” said the voice. 

“Nina?” Eddie was even more confused. 

“Eddie?” Nina said, surprised. 

“Nina! What are you doing here?” Eddie ran up to her, even more surprised than she was. 

“I had to come back. I felt like there was something wrong, I couldn’t let my friends get into danger. That’s the reason I left in the first place, to keep you all out of it. Also, Fabian…” Eddie stifled a laugh. 

“Being away didn’t help.” 

“What do you mean?” Nina looked over at Amber, and then back at Eddie. She started feeling a bit panicked.

“I’ll fill you in on the way back. Come on.” Amber and Nina walked on either side of Eddie as he explained what happened after Amber left Anubis.

 

“Are you serious?!” Nina was shocked, that was the worst thing to happen yet. _I guess me staying away didn’t do any good after all..._ she thought. _That was a whole year she could’ve spent in England…._

“Yeah, it was a disaster. I still have nightmares about it.” 

“Fabian was evil? That’s really hard to believe.” Amber said. 

“I know, but he was really bad. He made Joy cry.”

“He’s done that before you know.” Amber pointed out, she wasn’t buying the fact that Fabian had in fact been evil. 

“Would the Fabian you know tell someone he can’t stand them, or that they’re a joke? Intentionally be mean to Joy, or Alfie?”

“No….”Amber said. 

“He’s okay now, right?” Nina asked, concerned. 

“Oh yeah, he’s fine now. Everyone’s fine. KT and I were the only ones who were never affected. I was afraid for a bit there that they’d get us too.”

“I’ll bet, just hearing about it makes me shudder. I’m sorry you had to go through that, and that I wasn’t here to help. I would’ve come if I had known….”

“No, I mean I did think about calling you, but I didn’t want to put you in danger. It IS my job to protect you. And well, I didn’t think you’d react well to your friends having their souls taken from them. It’s hard to be rational when everything’s falling apart around you.” 

Nina sympathetically patted Eddie on the shoulder. She understood the kind of horror he had been through. Being the Chosen One and Osirian had its toll. They were almost at Anubis House. 

_Whose bags are these?_ KT thought when she walked in the room. Patricia, Joy, and Willow were sharing the room at the end of the hall, so KT would be sharing with whoever owned the bags. KT was headed down the stairs when Eddie walked through the door.

“Oh good! Where is everyone else?” Eddie looked pretty psyched. 

“In there, why?” she pointed towards the living room, and looked confused. 

“I have a surprise. Come on,” he said, leading her in to join the group.


	3. Chapter 3

“Alfie, go get Fabian please. Tell him it’s important.” Eddie said, smiling.

Alfie looked a bit confused, but got up off the couch and left the room.

“What’s going on, Eddie?” Patricia was worried. He disappeared for an hour without a word, and suddenly he looked as if he’s on Cloud 9.

“You’ll see. I’ll say more once Fabian and Alfie are here.”

“What’s this about, Eddie?” Fabian said as he came back into the room. Some of the students had no idea he had even left. 

“I have a surprise. Well, two surprises actually.” Eddie opened the door leading to the entryway, and opened the front door. Amber walked in, and into the living room.

“Amber!” Patricia exclaimed, and stood up to hug her fellow Sibuna member.

“Hey Patricia! Hey Joy!” Joy stood up to hug Amber as well. 

“Amber!” Fabian shouted, happy to see one of his best friends again, he really missed her. He gave her a hug before thoughts of Nina crept back into his mind. He let go, shying away from everyone. 

KT didn’t know Amber too well, but hugged her anyway. Willow sat on the chair, unable to meet Amber’s eyes. After all, Alfie had been her boyfriend before she left to New York.

“Hey Willow,” Amber greeted her. She knew about Walfie, and accepted them. Even though she still loved Alfie, he was happy with Willow. That’s what mattered. 

“Hi, Amber,” Willow said timidly. 

“Where’s Mara?” Amber asked the group. 

“Some special school specifying in science or something,” Patricia shrugged. Amber nodded, acknowledging what she said. 

“Amber, can we talk?” Alfie asked, he loved Amber, but he adored Willow. He didn’t want to end up like Jerome, breaking both of their hearts.

“Later Boo- I mean, Alfie. Sorry, old habit.” Amber walked over to Eddie, and went on the other side of the door. Amber was trying to refrain from squealing. 

“I have one more surprise for everyone…” Eddie turned toward the door.

Nina walked into the living room then. Her style had changed, both hair and clothing. Amber had been sending Nina different outfits that she designed at fashion school specifically for her. Not many girls had their own personal designer, after all. Nina smiled at the sight of her old friends. Memories began to flood her mind. She felt like she was home.

“Hey guys,” She said, and glanced around the room. Nina spotted Fabian then, he looked as if he were keeping his distance from the rest, over near the dining table. His facial expression changed drastically upon seeing her. At first, he had a smile on his face, left over from his reunion with Amber, and then it changed to utter astonishment, that washed over his face. Finally, she was here again, standing a couple meters away, smiling as if the past year had never happened. Like the letter had never been written. Like she was still his. 

“Nina…,” he barely whispered. The corner of her mouth went up in response to her name; she looked at the ground, then back to his face. She knew things would never be the same after what she had told him, but she wasn’t expecting how happy he’d be to see her. She had been convinced that he had moved on with Joy. Maybe he still had. 

“Nina,” he said again, louder this time. It was finally sinking in that she was there. He couldn’t believe it, after all the nights he dreamt of seeing her again, she was here. She was finally here. Fabian quickly made his way to her. He hugged her so tightly that she could barely breathe, spinning her around. 

“Fabian…can’t…breathe…” she managed to say. He set her down, laughing.

“Sorry,” he spoke, “it’s just, I was afraid I would never see you again…and you’re here….I’m so glad you’re back.” 

He looked into her eyes. The same eyes he called beautiful what seems like a lifetime ago.

“Why would you think that, Fabian? Of course you’d see me again,” she said, looking back.

“The letter, I thought you and Eddie were seeing each other….” Nina opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted. 

“You should’ve seen him, Neens, he was about ready to attack Eddie right there and then. I had to hold him back.” Alfie said enthusiastically. 

“Really?” Nina raised an eyebrow. “Fabian? Attacking someone? Was this during the whole evil thing?” 

There were some uncomfortable coughs around the room. Even though they couldn’t remember anything from when they themselves were soulless, they could remember their friends being so. 

“No, uh, I wasn’t…” he admitted, scratching the back of his head. “I pretty much lost it when I thought ‘We can’t be together’ in your email meant you couldn’t be TOGETHER as an item. That over the holiday you were seeing him.” 

Nina looked seriously into his eyes. “I would never do that to you.” 

“Does that mean you haven’t moved on, then?” he asked, hopeful. Nina was quiet for a moment. She looked down at the ground embarrassed, but managed to say, “I haven’t. Even trying, I could never be over you.” He leaned down and kissed her for the first time in what felt like forever.

Nina happily greeted her friends with hugs, Fabian never letting go of her hand.

“I’m glad you’re back, Nina. We all missed you.” Patricia said.

“I missed everyone too. After two terms here, going back to school in America was pretty boring.” 

“And as much as I LOVE fashion, I’d rather be here with you guys too.” Amber and Nina exchanged a look. 

KT walked up to Nina and introduced herself. “Hi, I’m KT. I started here last term.” 

“So you’re KT? I’ve heard a bit about you from Amber and Eddie.” 

“Yeah, it’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard so much about you from everyone.” Nina glanced at Fabian and smiled. 

“So, you’re in Sibuna? Actually, who all is in Sibuna now?” She started looking around at all the faces in the room.

Everyone standing in the room has been in Sibuna at some point, so there was no need for secrecy. 

“Well, actually… all of us.” Fabian said. “Willow was the only good one left standing with KT and Eddie, and with her dating Alfie, she became one of us. Joy wanted back in as a part of our gang, and Jerome tagged along with her.” 

“Wow, ten of us then.” Nina said in surprise. “The biggest our number had ever been was six. Have the new members done the initiation ceremony?”

“No, Eddie, KT, Willow, Joy, and Jerome have yet to.”

“What do you think guys?” Nina asked the group.

“Sounds cool,” Eddie said. 

“What do we do at this initiation ceremony, exactly?” KT asked, sounding a bit nervous. 

“Bring an item that’s a sacrifice to burn.” Amber said.

“Just don’t bring a huge sacrifice, guys.” Fabian warned. He still missed his signed copy of The Solar System is Your Friend. 

A smile crossed Joy’s face. “I know exactly what I’m going to bring. Come on, Jerome.” The newbies of Sibuna dispersed, going to their rooms to retrieve a sacrifice to burn to be initiated into Sibuna. 

Our original five Sibuna members were left standing in the living room.


	4. Chapter 4

“It’s been awhile since it was just the five of us,” said Alfie.

“Yeah, like the good old times.” Amber looked at her friends, thinking about how she made the right choice in returning. Her friends were worth giving up fashion school for. 

“Speaking of the good old times, where’s Victor?” Nina hadn’t seen him once since her and Amber had arrived.

Fabian shrugged. “I’m not sure, Trudy just said he was out and would be back later.”

“Guess we’ll have to keep a lookout then. Victor’s never up to anything good.” Nina’s tone was light on the surface, but was serious below it. 

Victor always ends up being involved in the craziness one way or another. After last term, who knows what could happen next? Eddie walked in then, and put his arm around Patricia.

“So Nina, how is it that you’re here now? I thought we couldn’t be together without some major disaster happening or something.” 

“I just couldn’t stay away. I sensed something was wrong and enrolled back at the school as soon as I could. I’m not going to let this Osirian and Chosen One thing prevent me from being where I want to be.” 

“We should probably find out what it means though,” Fabian said.

“I was actually going to try to find that out myself, with Robert’s help, to see if it would be possible for you to come back. But here you are.”

“So you guys don’t think it’s a bad idea that I came back?” Nina still wasn’t sure if it was really the right thing to do, she cared about her friends more than her own self, but she was afraid something would happen while she was away too. 

“Of course not. I tried to convince you before that no matter what it is, we can get through it.” Eddie gave her a hug, to prove to her that nothing was going to happen.

Patricia knew Eddie loved her and only her, but seeing him hug someone else, even if that person is Nina, made her feel uneasy. Eddie was one of Fabian’s best friends, but the angry feelings he felt last summer when he thought they had been together were threatening to resurface again as he watched them. 

Fabian cleared his throat. “So, now that Nina’s back, who’s going to be the leader of Sibuna?”

Jerome, Joy, KT, and Willow made their way downstairs, each holding an item. Their sacrifice to prove they were a true Sibuna. 

“How about we put it to a vote?” Eddie suggested.

“Sure, that sounds fair.” Nina agreed. 

The group of ten walked the short walk from Anubis House to the spot in the woods where Sibuna used to hold their meetings and initiation ceremonies. Everyone was circled around the small fire burning in a bin. 

“So guys, considering that Sibuna’s original leader is back, we’re going to vote on who will be leader,” said Eddie. 

“I vote Nina. No offense Eddie, but Nina makes an AMAZING leader,” said Amber, right by Nina’s side.

“Non-taken, Amber. Patricia?” She was standing next to Amber, Eddie was taking everyone’s votes in order. 

“Well, Nina DOES make a great leader. And so do you….” Patricia didn’t want to hurt either of their feelings, but Eddie WAS her boyfriend. 

“I guess…I guess you, Eddie.” She looked at Nina apologetically, hoping she’d understand. Nina gave her a smile that said she did, because she did understand. Patricia might be outspoken, not minding if what she says hurts someone, but after what she went through, she really had to stand by Eddie. Nina touched her shoulder to make sure she knew she was okay with it. 

“Okay, Alfie?” Everyone had their eyes on Alfie. No one was quite sure which way he’d go. 

“Being in Sibuna from almost the beginning, I have to say Nina was able to handle things better overall. Maybe it was because a creepy Egyptian lady wasn’t around to try to take everyone’s souls away from them, but things did seem to run smoother when she was leader. Sorry Eddie, but I’m going to have to vote for Nina on this one.”

“That’s cool, Alfie.” Eddie gave him a pat on the shoulder.

“Willow?”

“I vote for Eddie,” Willow said. “After all, it was you and KT who saved us all and got our souls back.” 

Eddie nodded and turned to Joy.

“Eddie,” she began, “because without you, none of us would even be here. Please don’t take it personally Nina.” She looked at Nina, hoping she wouldn’t still hate her for the whole Jabian mess. “Don’t worry about it Joy, I understand.” Nina’s smile and nod assured her that she didn’t still hold a grudge. She hoped they could finally be friends after all this time.

“Jerry?” Eddie asked. “Who do you think?”

“Well, considering I was only ever in Sibuna a short time, I don’t have a lot to go off of. But, considering Nina is the Chosen One, I think she should be leader.”

Eddie turned to KT, he already knew her vote though.

“Eddie. I don’t really know Nina at all, so I’m just going with what I know."

Fabian was the last to vote. Considering Nina was back, he was sure to vote for her.

“You did a good job last term, Eddie, considering you took it on without much knowledge about it. But I’m going with Nina. Return Sibuna to how it originally was.” Fabian squeezed her hand.

“That’s 4 each. A tie.” Eddie looked at Nina, he wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t look troubled about it at all. 

“I have an idea,” she said with a brilliant smile. “What if we were both in charge? We are a team, after all. And half of us want you and the other wants me. This way we both win.” 

“Ahh, that’s good!” Patricia said. “Considering Nina knows more about the Cup and Mask, Eddie about our... recent situation….” she trailed off uncomfortably.

“Yeah, that’d be great. We’d be stronger with two leaders. Ten members is quite a number, maybe two would be best.” Fabian said. 

“Now that Mara’s not in the house, we don’t have to hide things from each other like before.” Alfie pointed out. 

“I can’t believe Mara never knew about any of it. She’s so smart, yet was so oblivious of what was going on around her,” said Jerome. “I knew things were going on, I just didn’t want to get involved after the whole Rufus fiasco.”

“I’m glad she never did, the less people involved in things, the better. But knowing you all, you don’t care about being involved.” Nina could never keep her friends away from Sibuna. That’s one thing she loved about them, they stuck with her through thick and thin.

“Okay, two leaders it is then.” “Now that that’s settled,” Fabian looked at each new member. “It’s time for the ceremony. Eddie, you go first.” Eddie stepped toward the fire, and put his first guitar pick into the fire.

“Now say after me,” Amber loved this part. She did the Sibuna sign.   
“'I, Edison Miller, being of sound mind, promise to protect the secrets of Anubis House, and stand by my fellow club members,' and then list everyone’s names.” 

Eddie held his hand over his right eye, “I, Edison Miller, being of sound mind, promise to protect the secrets of Anubis House, and stand by my fellow club members, Nina Martin, Fabian Rutter, Patricia Williamson, Amber Millington, KT Rush, Alfie Lewis, Jerome Clarke, Joy Mercer, and Willow Jenks. I also promise to do my best as your co-leader, and give it my all.” 

“That’s quite a mouthful,” Willow giggled. KT was next. She threw in one of her favorite scarves into the fire. “I, KT Rush, being of sound mind, promise to protect the secrets of Anubis House, and stand by my fellow club members, Nina Martin, Eddie Miller, Fabian Rutter, Alfie Lewis, Patricia Williamson, Amber Millington, Willow Jenks, Joy Mercer, and Jerome Clarke.” 

She stepped back from the fire, grinning. She loved how official it felt.

“You’re up, Willow,” Eddie said, nudging her. Willow threw in a necklace she used to wear every day. Joy was after her, she put a ticket stub from her and Jerome’s first date into the fire. Jerome went last; he had put a lot of thought into his choice. He threw in the letter his dad had sent him when he found out his father was in jail. It was a reminder of when his relationship with him turned around and got to experience what it was like to have a good father. After Jerome finished his vow, Nina wrapped it up.

“These are your sacred vows. Let no man, or woman, tear them asunder.”


	5. Chapter 5

Sibuna walked back to the house in small groups, telling jokes and laughing.

“Ah, Nina, can I speak to you a second?” Eddie grabbed her arm to stop her. He froze for a second, as a strange feeling seeped through his arm and up to his head. 

“Yeah, sure…” Nina spun around to face him. He gently pulled her a few feet away from everyone else. 

Patricia and Fabian were wrapped up talking to Amber to notice they weren’t with them.

“I’ve been having these visions. I’m not sure what they mean exactly, but they’re becoming more frequent. I’ve been hearing things, too.” Eddie didn’t know Nina very well, but he was glad he had someone who could finally understand what was going on with him. 

“Visions?” Nina was surprised by that. She knew about hearing voices, but had no idea he could see visions. Was she capable of seeing them too? 

“Yeah, they started up last term. Guess you haven’t seen any then….” 

“I’ve been hearing voices too. Very faint ones, but they’re still there. They get stronger once I’ve been here at the school. I also have these weird intuition moments…Fabian used to comment about them before we found out I was the Chosen One. Do you think something’s going to start up again?”

Eddie was unsure. He sure hoped nothing would happen. He had just saved the world. Can’t the world stay safe for a little while? 

“I don’t know…I sure hope not. Just in case, we need to be on our toes. I refuse to let last term be repeated, or anything close to that.”

“What was it like, Eddie?” she whispered. “What was it like seeing Patricia and Fabian like that?” 

The pain on Eddie’s face was clear.  
“Seeing Patricia act like that was the worst thing I’ve ever been through. She was there, standing in front of me, but _she_ wasn’t there. Some of the things Patricia said to me hurt, even though I knew it wasn’t really her saying them. Thankfully, she doesn’t remember any of it.”

It made Nina sick to think that her friends had been victims in this. They didn’t deserve it. Yet, she just added more members to the club…

“Fabian. Fabian was really bad, worse than Patricia, even.” Nina bit her lip at the words he was saying. She hadn’t known many of the details about what happened to her friends. “Alfie and Joy were the only ones who really remember Evil Fabian. Joy had been crying about Jerome breaking up with her, and when she wanted some advice, he really gave it to her. Said no one can stand her, and that she was lucky anyone would date her at all. Alfie figured out that that wasn’t Fabian behavior, and called him out on it. So Fabian gave it to him good as well, telling him he’s the joke of the group. So in response, Alfie gave it right back to him. Alfie still has the recording of Fabian losing it....”

“What did he say to make him so upset?” her voice shook.

“Alfie tried to get him upset by making Mara out to be much smarter than him. It made him upset, but he tried to control it, warned Alfie to watch it. Then he brought up you. Said the reason you left him was because he’s not very athletic. Even evil, Fabian still loved you. Patricia was a bit harder to reach, but I was able to reach that part of her, for a brief moment.” Nina started crying then, because her friends suffered so much, while she was back home living a normal life.

 _Maybe if I was here,_ she thought, _I could’ve prevented that from happening._

Fabian. Fabian loved her when he shouldn’t have been able to feel emotions like love. She felt sick with guilt. Eddie felt pained watching her cry. He wanted to protect her from the pain, the tears. It was his job as the Osirian to protect her, and as her friend. 

“Shh, Nina, it’s okay. It’s over. Everyone’s fine.” Eddie tried to reassure her. 

“But I wasn’t here,” she cried. “I wasn’t here, maybe if I was, they would’ve all been safe. I - I _abandoned_ them!”

“You didn’t. You went away to protect them in the first place. Don’t feel guilty, they know you did it out of love. It’s okay.” Eddie gave her a hug. They both gasped, and froze in place when suddenly, they weren’t in the forest they had been just a second ago.

Nina was frantically looking around, this was her first vision. Eddie looked startled, but he was used to this sort of thing by now, and relaxed a little when he knew what was happening. They were both holding hands, looking around for the purpose of this vision. They were standing in a tunnel, not one Nina recognized. She spotted markings on the wall, but it was going too fast, she couldn’t make out what they were. Eddie saw another tunnel to their left, thick webs blocked the way. In front of them was a sarcophagus, with the jackal face of Anubis on the outside.

Above them was a weird mosaic that allowed the moonlight to seep through. As abruptly as the vision came, it went. Nina and Eddie quickly let go of each other, shock written on both of their faces. 

“That…that vision…” Eddie stuttered. 

“The tunnels…they weren’t the same tunnels we found the mask in. Just how many _are_ there?”

“Robert sure was a busy man…,” he trailed off. “We better head back. They’re going to notice we’re gone if we don’t hurry.” 

Nina started jogging toward Anubis House. Eddie followed. Neither said another word on their short walk back. When they walked through the door, all of Sibuna stood in the entryway to greet them, staring back. 

“Where have you guys been?” Amber asked.

Nina wiped her eye, she still had tears threatening to spill over.

“You’re crying…. What did you do, Eddie?” Fabian said, getting angry.

“Nothing! Why are you assuming I did something?” 

“Because she wasn’t crying last time we were with her!”

“Guys!” Nina shouted. “Eddie didn’t do anything, Fabian. I’m still adjusting from everything I’ve learned since I got here. I’ll be fine.” Fabian took her hand, and tried to lead her into the living room. 

“Actually, I better go unpack. I’ll see you guys later,” she pulled her hand away and started for the stairs.

“I’ll come help you, Nina.” Amber volunteered. Patricia and Fabian glanced at each other. Something wasn't right...

 

Sibuna exchanged confused expressions before drifting off all around the house. Only Patricia and Fabian remained near the stairs.

“What do you think _that_ was?” Patricia asked.

“I don’t know…I haven’t had any alone time to spend with Nina since she’s been here, so maybe she has things from home going on that we don’t know about?”

“And so she decided to confide in Eddie?” She was getting irritated. She could still see Nina and Eddie flirting when he first came to the school, and they _did_ have a connection…

“Are you jealous, Patricia?” Fabian cracked a smile. Fabian trusted Nina, and Eddie was his best guy friend, he’d never do anything to hurt him. 

“Psh, no. Why would I be?” Fabian chuckled, and headed toward his room, shaking his head. Patricia decided to go visit Nina upstairs. She wasn’t the only one with the same idea. 

As Patricia walked in, every other girl in Anubis House was in there helping Nina unpack, chatting away about America, her new style, and how romantic Fabina’s reunion was… Patricia quietly stood by the door with her arms crossed, listening to everyone. 

"I _love_ this shirt, Nina!” KT squealed, she held it up to herself in the mirror. 

“You can borrow it sometime if you want.” Nina was happy she could have a girl friend from America there with her in England. She smiled and continued taking clothes out of her suitcase. 

“So Nina, what was it like going to school in America again?” Joy asked her.

“Boring,” she laughed. “You go to school here for a couple terms and anywhere else you go just can’t compare. And public school isn’t the best experience to begin with.” 

“What was your school like, Nina?” Willow was playing around with the pillow in her lap. 

“Very…divided. Everyone has their own clique. My friends started joining their own little cliques, leaving me by myself, because my clique is here with you guys. This is where I belong.” 

“Awww!” said every girl in the room cried, except Patricia. They had a little group hug, and Nina’s guilt she felt from earlier eased some. Patricia couldn’t help but walk over and join the group hug. She felt stupid for believing for one second Nina and Eddie could have a thing for each other. Eddie and Fabian walked in then.

“Aww how cute,” Eddie said. He had Nina’s locket in his hand. 

“My locket!” Nina shot up off the bed, and took it from his hand.  
“You have no idea how much I’ve missed this,” she put it back where it belonged; around her neck. She looked at the painting inside the locket, and thought, _I’m back, Sarah._


	6. Chapter 6

Fabian and Eddie shooed everyone out of the room then. Fabian and Nina deserved some time alone, they had a lot to catch up on.  
Eddie winked at Nina before he left. She silently thanked him with a smile.

“So….” Nina said. She hadn’t been alone with him in so long, it felt awkward. A good awkward. 

“So….” Fabian said in response, the corner of his mouth went up.

He walked over to her; she was sitting on the bed. He sat down next to her, and put his arm around her without a word. Nina put her head on his shoulder. She missed this. She always felt safe with Fabian.

“How was it being back home?” Fabian asked.

“Good…good…. I spent a lot of time by myself, though. Gran joined this poetry club and has been spending a lot of time with them. It’s good for her, she has some friends to keep her company when I’m not there and to take care of her in my place.”

Fabian held her hand and gave it a little squeeze to show he was there for her. 

“So she’s doing well then?” 

“Yeah, she’s fine now, thank you for asking.” 

Even after her Gran’s advice causing friction between them, Fabian liked her. She had their best interests at heart.  
They sat there for a couple of minutes in silence. 

“It seemed everywhere I went, I thought of you.” Nina said quietly, breaking the silence. “I'd go for a walk on the beach, and I’d see couples holding hands. A kid at school would say something in the same way you would. One guy even _looked_ like you.” 

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t make the trip over there. It’s just so expensive.”

“I know, I understand.” Nina didn’t realize she was holding her breath, and exhaled quickly, sounding like a sigh. 

“What you said earlier…was it true?”

“What?” 

“You said even trying, you couldn’t be over me. Did you try to?”

Nina hesitated, biting her lip. Fabian felt pain, a different pain than he felt when he realized he lost her. A pain that was different than missing her, aching for her. The thought of Nina with someone else made him feel sick to his core, even though that’s what he tried to do with Mara, to try to take some of the pain away.

“Who was he?” Fabian asked calmly.

“His name is Danny. I knew him before I left for England a couple terms ago. He was always a good friend to me, but it was clear he liked me more than just a friend. I never liked him in that way, so I kept my distance because I didn’t want to hurt him. After I moved back, he noticed I was hurting. I was hurting so much that I didn’t care if being around him hurt him, which was completely selfish of me, and I regret it. He made me laugh when I felt like crying, and helped me think about you less often. I tried to tell myself that I had to move on, because you had. I mean, you and Joy, I was so certain….” Nina trailed off. 

“But,” Nina took a deep breath before continuing. “I couldn’t get you out of my mind. I’d start feeling okay, and then there you were again. I felt so wrong even thinking about being with Danny, like I was betraying you. And then…” Nina didn’t want to continue.

“And then what?” he was relieved that she missed him as much as he missed her. 

“One day we were walking home from school, laughing about something stupid, when he stopped walking. He clenched his fist, and he looked hurt – you know how I hate seeing people hurting – so I stood in front of him to ask what was wrong, and...and he kissed me.” Fabian looked almost disgusted. He tried to remember that she was telling him how much he meant to her, but he couldn’t get past what he just heard.

“Wait, let me finish,” she tilted her head to look at his face. “I froze for a second; I couldn’t register what was happening. Then when I did, I pushed him away and ran off. I saw your face in my mind when he was kissing me. I felt your hand on my face. I wanted you, and only you. You were more than just my first love, Fabian. I never should have written you that letter. I regret a lot of things now.” Nina began crying, her tears slowly flowing down her face, leaving marks on Fabian’s royal blue shirt. She had never been much of a crier, always tried to be brave, but since she departed from England, she seemed to all the time.

“Nina, it’s fine, you don’t have to worry about it. I’m not upset.” Fabian hugged her, gently rubbing her back. “I know why you did what you did; both write that letter and seek comfort in someone else. I understand.” 

“You do?” she asked, sniffing. 

“I know…because I did the exact same thing you did.”

 

“Is something going on with you and Nina?” Patricia demanded from Eddie when they were downstairs in the kitchen. Eddie was making what he considers to be a snack. 

“No, why would you think that?” he asked, before he took a bite of his rather large sandwich. 

“Well you sneaked off somewhere for an hour, and then you come back looking so happy and excited because Nina was back. Then after the ceremony, you two stay behind and she comes back crying. Doesn’t exactly seem innocent now. does it?” Patricia was crossing her arms now; she couldn’t help but be jealous.

“It’s not what you think, Yacker,” Eddie walked over toward both doorways, and poked his head out to make sure no one was around. He walked back up to Patricia and put his hands on her shoulders. 

“I heard a voice, telling me to _‘find her’_. At the time, I had no clue who _‘her’_ was, but I felt drawn to the Summer House, so that’s where I went. I heard _‘find Nina’_ then, when I was there. I then explained everything that happened to us last term, and thought it would be the best surprise ever for Fabian, considering how sad he’s been without her, and I was right. The whole ceremony thing, I pulled her aside to tell her about the voices and visions. She was feeling guilty about leaving us to save the world on our own, and when I hugged her-”

“You _what_?!” Patricia screeched, a little too loudly. 

 

“Harriet?” KT asked when Robert’s phone was answered by her. 

“Ah, hello KT! How are you doing?” 

“Great, just got settled in at school…where’s Great Gramps?” 

Harriet’s response was slow, carefully worded. “He’s…outside…taking photographs! Egypt has some out-of-this-world scenery.”

Now, KT liked Harriet, but she hated that she was clearly being lied to by her. What was he up to, really? 

“Look,” KT began. “We both know he’s not outside taking pictures. Tell me the truth, where is he really?”

Harriet sighed. “He’s discovered another ancient tomb, he told me not to tell anyone, but I can’t keep anything from you, dear. It’s top secret, so you mustn’t tell anyone about it. Not even Eddie. Alright?” 

KT made a face. She didn’t want to keep secrets from her friends, but she trusted her great grandfather and Harriet. “Okay, I won’t.” 

“Good, I’ll tell him you called when he gets in. Goodbye, KT!” 

“’Bye….” After she hung up, KT had an overwhelming feeling of dread. Something was definitely going on.


	7. Chapter 7

“What do you mean?” Nina looked troubled.

“The end of last term, I started spending time with Mara. After Jerome cheated on her, then ending up with Joy, she’s been having a bit of a hard time. So I ended up spending more time with her because of it. She was great to be around, but it felt like there was something missing.” 

“It didn’t really hit me until we went to see a film together. _We,_ " Fabian motioned to the two of them, "never even made it to the cinema when we were together, and it didn’t seem right. I told her we could only ever be friends afterward, and she told me she didn’t want to be friends anymore. Shortly after, she got her scholarship to this really high-class science school. It worked out for the best, but then I felt sort of alone again... after being back here again for another year without you here, that's when I decided I was going to find out a way so you could come back.” 

Nina shook her head and chuckled. “We’re pathetic….” 

Fabian nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we are. But I’m okay with it if it means I have you.”

“I promise I won’t do anything like that again.” She mumbled. 

No matter what happens, she will not leave again without explanation. Even then, she will not leave Fabian. He was her rock in this crazy world she lived in.

“And I promise not to listen to people’s advice, even if they mean well.” Nina looked at him, her eyebrow raised.

“Listening to Alfie and your Gran is what caused everything to snowball.”

“Ohh…” Nina mouthed. 

“Who says you can’t be best friends and dating anyway?” Fabian said, kissing Nina on her head. “Besides Amber, anyway. Though I think she’s changed her mind about that.” Fabian chuckled. Good old Amber.

“Come on, it’s almost supper time.” Fabian stood up, holding out his hand. Nina grinned, and took his hand.

 

“Why would you hug her?!” Patricia’s voice was starting to rise. 

“Patricia!” Eddie hissed. “Quiet down! Listen, she’s been feeling guilty about that letter she wrote to Fabian, and leaving us to deal with the crisis on our own. She feels that she abandoned us, which isn’t true. But anyway, when I did hug her, we saw a vision.” 

“What about?” Patricia asked suspiciously, it seeped into her tone. 

“We were in some random tunnel, with a sarcophagus, mosaic, markings on the wall, and another tunnel with thick webs blocking the way. That’s all we saw before the vision abruptly ended.” Patricia believed him. 

“What do you think that means?”

“I don’t know…we’re not even sure where they are, much less why we saw it. Nina’s never seen a vision before, so it was new for her. She has a lot going on right now, so please try being a bit sensitive.” 

“I can be sensitive!” Patricia cried defensively. “Nina IS one of my best friends you know.”

Trudy walked in then to take their supper out of the oven. The couple walked over to the table and joined their friends.

 

"We’re going to need a bigger table if anyone else moves in,” Jerome joked, reaching for a roll on the table.

“About that,” Trudy said excitedly, “we’re expecting two new male students to be arriving at the school in the upcoming days.” 

The students looked up at Trudy in surprise. 

“Don’t tell me… they’re both American.” Jerome mumbled, Joy nudged him.

“Actually one is American, the other is from here in England. Now don’t worry, the attic’s being renovated and the two new students will be rooming up there. We’ll also be getting a new dining table; you guys are already so cramped down here.” Trudy scurried out of the room. 

“Looks like we’ll have to be extra careful with Sibuna again,” Fabian said. 

Amber and KT were hunched over at the corner end of the table, giggling quietly. 

“What’s gotten into you two?” Patricia asked. “ _Two_ new boys!” Amber exclaimed. Everyone around the tabled snickered.  
Except for Alfie. 

“Attention!” called a familiar voice. “I ask that you all be in bed early tonight, I have a very important person coming to the house and I need you all in bed.” Victor gave the students a look that said he was both disgusted and irritated. Then he said, “that is all,” before he waved his hand in dismissal and crept off down the hall. 

“Well that’s not good…” Alfie said, furrowing his eyebrows with pursed lips.

“No, it’s not….” said Eddie, looking after Victor suspiciously. 

“Whenever Victor asks us to go to bed early, it’s always a bad thing,” Nina pointed out. 

“Victor never does ANYTHING good. That’s like, a Victor rule,” Amber said before talking animatedly with KT again.

Everyone was able to get Victor and the visions out of their minds, and continued their happy conversations at supper. Everyone had but Alfie, who gazed at Amber from across the table. She was back, and it was a really good thing. But why did it fill him with dread?

 

The alarm began ringing at 7 AM, dull sunlight poking through the breaks in the drapes. Nina, Amber, and KT slowly sat up, stretching their arms and greeted each other. 

“You have _no_ idea how much I’ve missed this.” Nina said, bending down to put her slippers on. “I’m an only child, so I never had to share a room with anyone, until I came here.” 

“I missed this, too. Fashion school was kind of boring…. Wow, I can’t believe I actually just said that,” she said to herself in surprise.

KT laughed, “Hey Amber, can you help me put together an outfit?”

“Sure, what for?” Amber started rummaging through the wardrobe. KT was a bit hesitant to explain why.

“Who is he?” Amber asked her bluntly, her arms crossed. “Since all of the boys in this house are taken…” 

“Ah, he doesn’t…I mean, I don’t know yet,” KT sat down on the end of her bed. Amber laughed.

“Sometimes I swear it seems you and Nina could be related…or maybe it’s just an American thing…” Amber trailed off, becoming consumed with her thoughts. Nina shrugged at KT, and walked out the door with her toothbrush and toothpaste in hand.  
Jerome passed by Nina on the way to Joy’s room. 

“’Morning, Nina.” Jerome greeted her politely.

“Good morning, Jerome.” Nina said before shutting the bathroom door. 

Jerome held a tray with two Danishes and two glasses of orange juice. He stood outside the door, listening to see if the girls were still asleep. He heard Willow talking about flowers. Jerome gently knocked. 

“Come in,” Willow shouted. 

Carefully, Jerome opened the door with one hand, managing to keep everything remaining on the tray. 

“Good morning, Joyous,” he said happily. 

“Aw Jerome, you didn’t have to. I was about to head downstairs,” she sat on her bed, fully dressed and ready to start the day. 

“Humor me.” Joy sighed, a smile spreading across her face, and scooted up toward her pillow. 

“We’re going to head downstairs, then.” Willow led Patricia out of the room. 

“So I was thinking,” Jerome began, snatching one of the Danishes off the tray, “that we go out on a double date with Patricia and Eddie, or Alfie and Willow, or…”

“Nina and Fabian?” Joy finished for him, taking a bite of the Danish. “Don’t worry, I’m completely over that.” 

“You sure? I’d understand if you weren’t-” Joy cut him off.

“I’m sure, a hundred percent sure,” Jerome sighed in relief. 

“Oh good, I don’t know what you even saw in him…” Joy pursed her lips, smiling, and threw a pillow at Jerome’s face.


	8. Chapter 8

“Where are Jerome and Joy?” Fabian asked.

“They’re eating breakfast in our room, he brought her breakfast in bed” answered Willow, “how romantic!”

“Did you guys find out who Victor was meeting with last night?” Nina asked the guys.

The boys had insisted they find out who the mystery guest was, and let the girls sleep.

“Yeah, well, we overheard a bit. We’re not exactly sure who he is,” Eddie responded, Sibuna was in a huddle in the living room. 

“He said something about ‘Isis Necklace’” Fabian informed them, looking puzzled. 

“He also said, ‘watch out for him, Victor.’ But then we had to go because they were going to catch us,” said Alfie.

“Isis Necklace? What’s that?” Nina questioned. She heard the name before in a book somewhere. “Time to head over to the library?” she suggested, trying to hide her excitement.

“To the library!” Fabian grinned. Nina and Fabian rushed out the door without a single bite of food.

“Amber, can I talk to you a minute?” Alfie asked her nervously, he had to get it over with sometime.

“Sure….” 

They walked into the kitchen. Alfie had both his hands leaning on the counter, hanging his head. How could he put this without hurting her? 

“Ambs-” Alfie started before Amber interrupted. 

“You’re dating Willow…I know.” Alfie raised his head, and turned to face her. 

“I mean, I didn’t know if you were ever coming back, so I-” 

“It’s okay, I understand,” she interrupted with a smile.

“Still friends, then?”

“Of course we’re still friends.” Alfie hugged Amber much like he did that day after he got out of that small tunnel. “I missed you, Ambs,” he whispered. 

“I missed you and your silliness, too,” she whispered back, letting go. “I’ve got to go organize my wardrobe, I’ll see you later,” Alfie watched her leave the room, and wondered if this was really the right decision.

Patricia walked in the kitchen, and saw the look on Alfie’s face. “What’s bothering you?” she asked as she grabbed a muffin from the counter.

“Indecisiveness,” he replied, “what about you? Where’s Eddie?” 

“Oh, he was called to Mr. Sweet’s office for some father-son bonding,” Patricia made a face.

“I got a new game, we could go play if you’d like. Bet you I’d beat you though, Trixie.” 

“Oh yeah, you’re on! I’ve gotten better at video games since we last played.” 

They walked out of the kitchen toward Alfie’s room to play what would become a long marathon of Patricia losing.

 

Eddie walked into the school building, it was nearly empty since school didn’t start for another couple of days. He walked down the familiar hall, thinking how this would be the longest he’s managed to stay in a school for the past few years. This school was becoming his home. His dad was here, his girlfriend, his best friend…all that was missing was his mom. Eddie knocked on the headmaster's door a couple times, before he heard him shout, “Come!” 

Eddie walked in, and gave his father an awkward wave for a greeting before sitting down. 

“Eddie!” Mr. Sweet shouted in surprise, finally calling Eddie by the name he prefers. 

“It’s wonderful to see you've arrived safely. How were your travels?” Mr. Sweet asked his son, they were slowly getting closer. Last year’s circumstances had not affected their relationship much. 

“Long,” a loose smile playing on Eddies lips. “A flight, train, cab…but it’s worth it.”

“Ah, that does sound very draining. But good to hear you enjoy it here! And how is your mother? Is she doing well?”

“Yeah, she is. She’s actually going to be flying in for a visit next week.”

“Really?” Mr. Sweet shifted in his seat, this new piece of information caught him off guard. He knew he’d have to see her again, he was just hoping later rather than sooner.

“She said she’s looking forward to seeing you.” 

“Yes, it certainly has been awhile,” sweat started to bead on his forehead. He decided to change the subject. 

“So, how are you feeling about the new term?” 

“A bit nervous, to be honest. Every term, some new thing happens. But hey, that’s life in high school, right?”

“Yes, right...” Sweet agreed. “Oh yes, before I forget, are you free this evening? I’ve got a surprise I think you’re going to like.”

“Yeah, I don’t have anything else going on. I’ll see you later then?” Mr. Sweet was busy getting ready for the new school term, so their chat couldn’t last long. “Of course,” his father nodded before he left his office.

 

“Where was that book?” Nina said aloud to herself, searching the Frobisher Library.  
Fabian was at the table skimming through a pile of books he found on a nearby shelf. 

“Why are all of these books missing the last page? I mean, what kind of person does something like that?” Fabian said, frustrated, it was just plain rude. 

“I don’t know…I wonder why they’re missing,” she was nearing the end of the bookshelf, and still hadn’t found the book she was looking for.

“Hey Nina! Come look at this!” Nina ran over to Fabian, he was jabbing one of the pages. “It says here that the Isis Necklace can grant immortality if worn while drinking from the Cup of Ankh, no special date needed. But, the Chosen One and the Osirian must say an incantation in order for it to work.”

“What about the Scales of Life?”

“It doesn’t say…” Fabian continued scanning the pages.

“Well that explains why Victor wants it. But doesn’t he know about the true meaning behind the Scales of Life? Victor’s bad, but he’s not evil.” 

“Maybe there’s a way to get around it, like with the special date,” he suggested. “Let’s go back to the house and tell the others.” 

 

Eddie walked back into the house, his father on his mind. What was that reaction about when he said his mom was coming for a visit? KT was coming out of the living room when he walked in. 

“Hey Eddie, how was it with your dad?”

“Good…and weird. It always seems like he’s hiding something from me,” he shook his head, heading for his room. 

“I know the feeling…” she said quietly, on her way up the stairs.


	9. Chapter 9

Victor was pacing his office, only stopping to pet his raven.   
“He’s coming today, Corbierre,” he mumbled. “Finally, the waiting shall be over soon…”

A short time later, the front door of the house opened, a young man walked through the door.  
He was quite tall, slightly muscular. He wore a dark blue sweatshirt, silver basketball shorts, and a black cap worn backwards. Light brown spikes of his hair poked out through the space in the front of the cap. He was slightly tanned, with striking blue eyes.

Trudy heard the door shut, and left the kitchen to greet the new arrival. 

“Oh hello there! I’m Trudy Rehman, the house mother. Welcome to Anubis House.” 

“Hi Trudy, I’m Dillan Riley, nice to meet you,” he said politely, in an American accent.

“Let me give you a tour of the house, you’ll be staying upstairs in the newly renovated attic with another boy who will be arriving today,” she led him through the doors to the living room. “This is the living room where the students hang out together…over here is where I serve meals,” Trudy gestured at the longer, wider table that had just come in a short while before Dillan. 

She showed him the kitchen and laundry room before walking through the door to the hallway. 

“Now the downstairs bedrooms are where the other boys of the house stay, upstairs the girls.” She began ascending the stairs, Dillan followed close behind. “That’s Victor’s office, and completely off limits, he gets mad if anyone’s caught in there,” Trudy pointed at the windows of Victors office before going through the door leading to the corridor.

“These are the girls’ rooms,” she gestured at the doors. “The curtain down there and to the right is Victor’s room, which is also off limits. And this is the girls’ bathroom here.” She turned toward the attic door. 

“To the right here is my room, and through there is the attic. Come on; let’s go see where you’ll be staying.”

Dillan was amazed at how old and huge this house was, certainly not like anything he’s ever seen back home. They climbed the dark, dusty stairs, and opened the door that led into what was now Dillan’s room. The walls were painted a cream color; the window’s let in a lot of natural light, which made the room less eerie. There were two twin beds that have yet to be slept in. Overall, the room was quite bare, just waiting for it to be decorated by its new occupants. 

“I’ll leave you to unpack and get settled. Let me know if you need anything.” 

“Thank you, Trudy, I will,” once he heard Trudy’s footsteps decreasing, he pulled out his cellphone and dialed. 

“I’m here,” he said into the phone.

 

Trudy called the students down for supper; everyone had remained in their rooms while the new table was being brought in. Everyone was at the table, but Dillan. He was still unpacking his things. 

“Lovelies, one of our new students has arrived. He’s up in his room, putting away his things. He’ll be down to join you all shortly.”

The group smiled at Trudy until she left the room. 

“So, we have to find this Isis Necklace, then?” Patricia asked. 

“Yeah, before Victor does,” Nina responded. 

“This feels just like de ja vu, trying to get to something before Victor does,” said Amber, sipping her soup.

“What are you guys talking about?” KT asked, she wasn’t here when they had to make it through dangerous traps to the Mask of Anubis. Willow was intensely listening, as she had not yet started at Anubis House.

“We had to find the Mask of Anubis before Victor,” Nina began. 

“He wanted it for the Tears of Gold, so he could make his Elixir of Life,” said Fabian.

“While we had this cursey spirit lady, Senkhara, threatening our lives if we didn’t get it for her,” Amber chipped in.

Patricia added, “So we had to go through this long set of tunnels that Frobisher created, to get the mask for her.”

“While Victor was scheming to swoop in at the last moment and take it from us, letting us do all the dirty work,” Alfie told them with added hand gestures.

“And one of the obstacles was a game of Senet, which Nina, and eventually pretty much the rest of Sibuna, ended up locked up in some underground room, and I had to help save them,” Joy was pleased she was able to be included in this conversation. 

“Then in order for the Mask to work, they needed the Frobisher Gem that I spent a great deal getting back from Jasper, Fabian's godfather, while trying to keep Rufus Zeno away from the Mask and Gem,” Jerome said, just the memories of all of that made him shutter.

KT and Willow had heard about Rufus Zeno in passing. 

“So then Senkhara made Nina put on the Mask so she could go to the Land of Rushes, or whatever it was, and I used my Osirian powers to save her, but not before Joy had been struck by some bolt of light, and had to be saved by a Tear of Gold from the Mask” explained Eddie.

“Wooow….” KT and Willow said simultaneously, blinking in wonder. “That sounds intense…” Willow said. 

“Let’s just hope this new tunnel from our vision is nothing like that,” Eddie mumbled, without thinking.

“New vision?” some of Sibuna had yet to learn about this new development.

“...That’s something else I’ve been meaning to talk to you guys about,” Nina said, sheepishly. “Eddie and I had a vision, of the two of us in some creepy, unfamiliar tunnel. We didn’t get more than a glimpse around though, and we don’t know why we had it.…” 

“I was thinking about that….” Everyone turned in Eddie’s direction. “What if, the Isis Necklace we’re looking for is somewhere in those tunnels.” 

“That’s good! That could be…but where are they?” 

“Summer House,” Amber blurted out, spinning the spoon around in her soup. “That’s where Nina was drawn to when we first got here.” 

“You never seize to amaze me,” Fabian said, grinning at her. “I’m sure she’s right.” 

“I know right, I’m just SO clever…” Amber shrugged her shoulders in satisfaction, and smiled. She loved being right.

Dillan walked into the room then, hesitantly standing under the door frame. Jerome and Joy looked over at him first, everyone followed their lead after a moment.

“Hey, I’m Dillan. One of the new guys,” he took a couple of steps in the room before Eddie stood up. He held out his hand for Dillan to shake. 

“I’m Eddie, nice to meet you. This is my girlfriend Patricia, KT, Fabian, Nina, Amber, Willow, Alfie, Jerome, and Joy,” Eddie motioned toward each person as he said their name.

“Nice to meet you all,” Dillan gave them all a quick wave. 

“Here, come join us,” Jerome offered, motioning toward one of the two empty chairs at the table. Dillan hadn’t eaten anything good in nearly a day, so he was simply starving. 

“Where are you from, Dillan?” Nina asked, grabbing the pitcher of milk from the table. 

“Seattle,” Dillan answered, serving himself some salad from the center of the table.

“Why’d you leave the States to come to school here?” KT asked, curious. 

“Because I- Whoa, how many of you are American? I thought this was an English boarding school, or did I never leave Washington?” he exclaimed after hearing their accents. 

“No, these three are the only American’s here,” said Patricia. Jerome guffawed. 

“Ah, I see. Nice to know I’m not the only one, then. I was afraid I’d be the only one,” Dillan said, nervously.  
He had never been away from home before, much less out of the country.

“I think you’ll like it here,” Nina said, smiling a secret smile at him from across the table.


	10. Chapter 10

Sibuna asked Dillan questions about home, his friends, and his reason for coming to the school. He seemed to relax, these were friendly people, and hoped they could be his friends. He had always wanted to study abroad somewhere, and when he found this school, he applied. Dillan was like the perfect student, perfect attendance, never got in trouble at his previous school, amazing grades. Yet he was still shocked he got the scholarship. 

“So, you’re a geek and a goody two-shoes, then?” Patricia mocked, amused that there was another one in the house.

“Patricia!” Eddie warned, she just had to do this…. 

“Don’t worry, Dillan, she’s always commenting about me. I’m sort of a 'geek' as well,” Fabian gave Patricia a look. In response, she looked down at her almost empty bowl. “I think it might be a compliment….” 

“It’s fine, I know I am. I chose to be one. But actually, I’m really into sports too. It’s always seemed to balance it out.” 

“What subjects do you like to study?” Fabian asked, leaning just a big closer to the end of the table where Dillan was.

“Math and History, I’m particularly good at Algebra. History, I know a bit about most countries history. Chinese, American, British, Egyptian, German….” The group exchanged glances when they heard “Egyptian”. 

“We’ll have to discuss Egyptian History then sometime,” Fabian suggested. “I’m _really_ into that myself.” 

“Yeah, definitely,” Dillan nodded in agreement, “It’s pretty interesting how this house is named after Anubis.” 

“This school loves the whole Egyptian theme,” Willow spoke.

 

Victor trudged down the stairs; the boy had yet to come. There was a slight knock on the door when Victor was already starting down the hall. He spun around, rubbing his hands together. He opened the door, and a figure stepped in the house. 

“Welcome!” Victor said enthusiastically, holding one of his arms out. “Right this way…” The boy stepped in, and set his bags on the ground. 

“Hello, Victor,” the boy shook his hand. He had strawberry blonde hair, some of it falling down his face. He was of average height, pale skin, and grey eyes. He was the British boy everyone was expecting.

“Why don’t you go grab some supper, the students are in the dining room eating,” Victor suggested.

“Yes, I think I will,” said the boy.

He walked into the dining room, and sat down in the empty chair, not even bothering to greet the people at the table. 

“You must be the other new guy, I’m Dillan,” he said warmly, holding out his hand for a handshake. 

“I’m Skylar Thompson,” he replied back coldly, without shaking Dillan’s hand. 

“What brings you here, Skylar?” Alfie asked him. 

“I came in here to eat, not to answer your stupid questions,” Skylar snapped. 

“Sorry dude…” everyone looked at each other in astonishment as Skylar continued to eat his meal. He ate only a few bites more before excusing himself from the table. When he was gone, the tense atmosphere had lifted. 

“Okay, what is _with_ that guy?” Jerome said. 

“He needs and attitude adjustment, that slimeball…,” Patricia commented. 

“Sorry Dillan, none of us are like that,” Fabian tried to reassure him that those at the table were indeed good people.

“That may be, but he’s the guy I’ll be sharing a room with,” Dillan said grimly. 

_Well, I guess everything can’t be all good, this is after all still high school,_ he thought.

“Hey Dillan, the guys and I are going to be playing some football in a bit, want to join?” Eddie offered. 

“Football as in American Football, or football as in soccer?” Dillan questioned, knowing the different terminology. 

“American Football. The guys haven’t played it before, and I thought it’d be some nice bonding time.” 

“Sure, I’m in,” Dillan was surprised, he had only been here an hour, and he’s made some new friends. All except that Skylar guy…. 

“Are you girls going to watch?” Eddie asked. 

“Why not,” said Patricia.

“Of _course_! I love football!” KT gushed, “I’m an Eagles fan,” she stated proudly. 

“Eagles? Psh, _Seahawks_ ,” Dillan said, grinning. 

“Eagles!” 

“Seahawks!”

Nina and Eddie laughed, American things were generally not discussed here at the table.

“I’ll help you guys set up,” Nina offered.

“Me too,” KT volunteered. "Eddie, Nina, what team do you root for?"

"Giants," he replied confidently.

"I don't watch it often, but the Dolphins is the team where I'm from, so Dolphin's games are what I usually watch," Nina shrugged.

The American’s left the room, talking about their football teams and players.

 

The remaining members of Sibuna looked as if they were surprised at what just happened. 

“I think that was cute, I mean, they’re in a different country after all. And with so many of them here, it must be refreshing for all of them,” Joy said. "Especially Dillan."

“Yeah, and can you imagine what it was like for Nina when she first came here? Surrounded by a bunch of foreigners, and everyone disliking her right off because of Joy’s disappearance….” Fabian felt a bit of guilt stir in him, as did the others. 

They cleared their throats and shifted in their seats.

“I’m glad Dillan doesn’t have to go through that, he seems just as friendly as Nina and KT when they got here,” said Amber. “And he’s _beyond_ cute.” Alfie clenched his teeth, his entire frame tensing up. He hated the thought of her with someone else. 

“Alfie, are you okay? You aura’s changed color,” Willow said, concern in her tone. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he answered through his teeth, looking down at the table. “You know what, I’m going to go get ready to play. See you outside in a bit, yeah?” Alfie stood up and walked out of the room. 

“I should go get ready, too,” Jerome added, and kissed Joy on the head on his way out the door behind Alfie.

“How about later we get all the girls together and hang out?” Joy asked the girls.

“Oooo sounds great!” Willow said enthusiastically. She loved spending time with the girls. 

“We definitely should, I’ll tell Nina and KT,” Amber said.

“Are you going to play with the guys, too, Fabian?” Patricia asked him. 

“Yeah, I thought I’d give it a go,” said Fabian, getting up from the table. “I’ll see you guys later.” 

“What do you think we should do?” Joy said excitedly. 

 

“Is everything alright, Alfie? You seemed a bit off earlier,” Jerome asked when he opened the door.

“No, everything is NOT fine,” Alfie said angrily. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but... I like two girls.” Alfie was lying on his bed, with his hands up to his head. “The one thing I thought I would never do, and here I am,” he was disgusted. 

“Well, at least you’re not cheating on them both,” Jerome said, trying to make him feel better. 

“Might as well be, I’m still hurting people.”

“Look,” Jerome began, sitting on the side of Alfie’s bed. You’re confused. Amber is back, and you’re still feeling feelings for her. But that doesn’t mean she’s the one you should be with. You’ll just have to find out,” Jerome changed into some sweats and a T-Shirt while Alfie thought about what he said. 

“You’re right. Amber and I are friends, we’ll just hang out as friends, and then maybe, eventually, I won’t feel anything for her anymore.” Alfie looked more hopeful, even though he knew he was kidding himself. He got up and changed as well for the game.


	11. Chapter 11

The girls were sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the boys to start playing.

“Did you know Fabian won the Dodge Ball Tournament last term?” Joy asked Nina and Amber. They looked at her as if they hadn’t heard her right.

“Fabian won a dodge ball game?” Nina asked, surprised.

“Yeah, in a mascot suit no less.” 

“Here, I’ve got photos,” Patricia pulled out her phone and handed it to Amber.

“Whoa, first the pushups and now _this_. I think we’ve underestimated him, Nina,” said Amber, her mouth open in shock.

Nina just smiled and shook her head. There were a lot of things about him that had changed, but that didn’t bother her. He was still the Fabian she remembered, her best friend. And that would never change. Just then, she caught Fabian looking over at her. He gave her that intense gaze and grin that caused her to look down, blushing. 

“Some things never change, right Nina?” Amber said, lightly nudging Nina.

“Yeah, looks like it,” she still looked down at the ground. 

The boys were running around, trying to block each other from getting by. There were a lot of fumbles, but the boys were doing pretty well considering three of them had never even played the sport before. Dillan threw the ball, which headed right toward Eddie and Fabian. Fabian jumped up and caught it, and ran as quickly as he could toward the touchdown. The girls stood up and cheered, screaming, “GO FABIAN!” as loud as they could. Up in the attic, Skylar watched them, a grimace on his face. 

“Those twits, laughing and playing some daft sport. This is a school, not a playground….” He mumbled. 

The truth of it was, Skylar never played sports, nor had friends to play them with. His father wouldn’t allow it. Skylar would see the kids playing outside, just itching to go out and play, but his father told him, “Who needs friends? They’ll just end up hurting you one day, abandoning you. You don’t need anyone but yourself, Skylar.” Skylar was home-schooled his entire childhood, this being his first time away from the confinement of his house.

 

Dillan’s team won the game. Fabian, Dillan, and Alfie were giving each other high fives after the game was over. 

“I’m never underestimating Fabian again,” Eddie said with a laugh and a sigh. He walked up to Fabian and congratulated him on his win. Eddie didn’t hold his attention for long, though. Fabian walked over and sat by Nina. Joy, Patricia, and Willow were already talking with their boyfriends.

Dillan felt sort of awkward, almost everyone was paired up. All except Amber and KT. He had noticed Amber glancing at him here and there at dinner, so he thought he’d go over and speak with her.

“Hey, Amber is it?” Dillan asked, sitting by her on the grass.

“Yes, you played really well out there. Were you on a team back in America?” Amber asked politely, she knew a thing or two about sports from her days with Mick.

“I was, but I wasn’t like the Quarterback or anything. It was fun, but I had to quit after football season my first year on the team to concentrate on schoolwork.” 

Amber nodded, she wasn’t quite sure what to say in response. And this guy for some reason made her nervous. 

“Everyone’s paired up here, huh?” Dillan said, motioning his head toward the 4 couples in the grass. 

“Yeah, those two over there,” she said pointing to Fabian and Nina, “are my best friends. They’ve had a lot going on the past few terms.” 

Dillan made a mental note to get to know them, especially Fabian, he seemed a lot like him. 

“And what about the others?” 

“The girl in the leather jacket, Patricia, and Eddie have also had a bit of a rough time, but they’re totally inseparable. They can both be a bit…headstrong, but they’re good people. Jerome and Joy,” she pointed at them, they were holding hands. “I don’t even know how _that_ happened. Last term I was at Fashion School in New York, and I came back this term to this,” she was motioning toward them with her hands, she doesn’t understand how they came to be. At all. “And then those two…” she said, a bit uneasy. “That’s Alfie and Willow….Alfie’s my ex, they got together after I left so I don’t know much about that either.” 

“Oh…Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

“No, it’s totally alright. You’re new, of course you’ve got questions about us.”

“If it makes you feel better, he’s an idiot for going for her instead of you,” he said, but then quickly added, “Not that he’s a bad guy or stupid or anything….” Amber giggled. 

“I understand what you mean…and thanks,” she smiled at him in appreciation. She was flattered. 

“Anytime,” he smiled back before he left to tell the guys he was calling it quits for the day.

 

“It’s 10 o’ clock! You have five minutes precisely, and then I want to hear a pin…drop,” Victor announced, he began walking up the stairs after dropping his pin to check on the students. Up in the attic, the boys weren’t doing so well. 

“Look man, what’s your problem?” Dillan asked Skylar, irritated. “We’re roommates, the least we can do is try and get along.”

“I don’t need to get along with you. Just stay out of my way, I’ll stay out of yours, and we won’t even need to speak to each other. Got it?”

“Yeah, fine, whatever,” Dillan rolled over in his bed, facing away from Skylar. Victor quietly tiptoed up the steps, the door creaked open. Skylar glanced at Dillan, making sure he wasn’t paying attention to him. He quietly got out of bed and walked out the door. Victor and Skylar were silent until they were in Victor’s office.

“Your father tells me you’re into Egyptian History and Mythology,” Victor said, looking out the window of his office. 

“Yes sir, it’s a hobby and passion of mine.” 

“Good…good…. There’s something I’ll be needing your help with, Skylar.” 

 

It was the first day of school, Anubis House had class with another house at the school. They had a new teacher, Mr. Grenald, who took Ms. Denby’s place after last years…incident. 

“Okay class, please open your books to page 234,” Mr. Grenald said with a tired sigh, sitting down at his desk.

“Psst,” someone whispered. “Psst, Nina,” Eddie was calling her. She and Fabian turned around. “Sibuna meeting afterschool, okay?” He said, looking a bit concerned. Nina and Fabian nodded, and glanced at each other in confusion.


	12. Chapter 12

The students met in the usual Sibuna meeting place out in the woods.

“What’s this about, Eddie?” Fabian asked.

“I’ve been sensing that something’s wrong. I keep having dreams about the Summer House, and the urge to go there keeps getting stronger.”

“I know, I’ve been feeling it too. I think we should go check it out,” Nina agreed nervously. 

“Before we do that…there’s something’s up with my dad. I think he’s hiding something from me about my mom, she’s coming to visit next week.”

KT quickly looked down at the ground. She hated hiding things from Sibuna, but she promised…. 

“You don’t think it has anything to do with Isis Necklace and the Summer House do you?” Fabian asked him. “

I don’t know….I guess I’ll have to find out next week,” Eddie said glumly. “How about we go check out the Summer House?” Nina suggested, motioning for them to follow. They walked up the stairs of the Summer House, looking for a way in. 

“Hey! I think I found something!” Joy shouted after a couple of minutes, everyone rushed over.

“It’s a secret door….” Fabian commented, pushing it. It didn’t move.

“Let’s see if we can force it open,” Eddie backed up a few steps. The guys did the same. All four of them rammed the door, but all it did was hurt their arms and shoulders. “Geez, that thing is stuck!” Alfie whined, rubbing his arm.

Willow examined the doorway. “I don’t think you’re going to get this door down by force.” She sounded confident on how to, however.

“What do you mean, Willow?” Joy asked. 

“Nina’s locket goes there.” She pointed at the Eye of Horus shape near the door. 

“Nice one, Willow!” Eddie grinned, and gave her a high five. Nina walked up to the door, and put her locket up to the shape. The door began groaning, and slowly slid open. It was pitch black inside. Eddie pulled out a small flashlight from his pocket. Nina and Eddie turned to the group. 

“We’re going in first,” she stated, motioning to Eddie. The group started to protest, but Eddie stopped them. 

“No. We’re going to check to make sure it’s safe enough for you to go in.”

“But we’re a team!” Patricia nearly shouted in protest. 

“I know we are, but I do not want a repeat of the last tunnels,” said Nina, her voice not much above a whisper. 

“We’ll let you know if everything’s okay in there, and then you can follow. Just wait here, please Yacker?” Eddie looked at her with concern, his eyes begging for her to listen.

Patricia sighed. “Okay, we’ll wait here.” He hugged her then. Nina looked at Fabian and gave him a hug too, before Nina and Eddie walked through the dark doorway.

 

Nina and Eddie walked carefully into the blackness.

“My flashlight barely makes a dent in here,” Eddie said, shining it all around the walls.

“Mine neither…” she muttered.

They walked far enough down the narrow stairway so they couldn’t be heard by the rest of Sibuna.

“So Nina,” Eddie started. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

“What’s that?” she asked, half-curious.

“Do you think that it was just coincidence how both the Chosen One and Osirian are at this school?”

Nina was silent for a moment, all they could hear in the dark was their feet on the stone.

“No, I don’t think it was,” she finally answered.

“How did you end up attending school here?” he asked her.

“Gran said she found out about this school here, and I found out I had a partial scholarship. I thought it was a great opportunity, so I agreed. And Gran did her share of convincing….”

“I wonder how she knew about it,” said Eddie. You could tell he was deep in thought over it.

“I know you told me how you ended up here before, and then your dad being the principal and all…but why exactly this school?”

“My dad insisted I come to the school, he was really insistent. At the time, I thought maybe he wanted to get to know me. But now that I found out I’m the Osirian, I have my doubts. He does seem genuinely happy I’m here, but then other times, not so much…. What are your parents like, Nina?”

“My parents died when I was little, I don’t really remember them,” Nina said, a hint of sadness in her tone, and shrugged.

“Oh. Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine, really,” she said with hushed tone. “I just…sometimes I wonder what it would be like if they were still here.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to them?”

“They died in a car accident. I was left with my gran, they were going out of town for business, I think.”

“Nina,” Eddie said, his voice had a bit of urgency in it, “what if that’s not what really happened to them?”

“What?” Nina asked, shocked. Where was this coming from?

Eddie and Nina walked into a lightly lit room, only a single torch was on the wall, its flame dim.

“What are you talking about, Eddie?” Nina asked.

“I’ve been having this dream. About this couple I’ve never seen before,” Eddie started, not sure how to continue. “Well….” He sighed. “I saw them, in some sort of Egyptian tomb or something. Then this dark shadow cast over their faces, and the woman screamed.”

“But why would you think that has anything to do with me or my parents?” she asked, completely confused.

“Because after that, I’d wake up and you would be the one to come to mind. I didn’t know how to tell you.”

Nina was quiet, her breathing shallow. Was that really her parents? What happened to them? Were they…killed… or were they still alive somehow? Her mind was racing with all of these questions.

“I have a picture of my parents, up in a box in my room. When we go back to the house, will you look at it?”

“Of course,” Eddie said.

“Now let’s just concentrate on the task at hand, and see if it’s okay for Sibuna to come down here,” Nina started looking around the room, but was interrupted my her phone ringing in her pocket.

“Hello?” Nina said, sounding dazed.

“Nina? Are you alright?” It was Fabian, he hadn’t heard from her in awhile, and was concerned.

“Uh huh, yeah…” she was examining the walls. The room came to a dead end. There had to be another doorway or hidden entrance somewhere….

“Can you hand the phone to Eddie?”

“Sure,” she reached out her arm to Eddie. “Fabian wants to talk to you.” Nina immediately went back to scanning the walls.

“Is everything okay down there?” Fabian asked.

“Yeah, it’s fine. We’ve come to a dead end, and we’re trying to find a secret door or something.”

“Is it safe to go down, then?”

“Yeah, it’s-”

Nina’s scream echoed in the nearly empty stone room. Fabian could hear it through the phone.

“Nina!” Fabian exclaimed. “What’s wrong? What happened?!” He yelled frantically into the phone, and into the entrance of the tunnel.


	13. Chapter 13

Sibuna was still by the entryway of the door at the Summer House, they were giving each other nervous and panicked glances after hearing Fabian shout in distress. Alfie and Fabian looked like they were ready to race down the stairs. 

Eddie ran up to Nina, a blade was sticking out of the wall, and in the dim lighting, Nina had brushed her hand against the wall to find a switch or button, and instead cut her palm. She looked down at her hand, and was able to make out blood. She began feeling lightheaded. 

“Nina?” Eddie asked, worried. He examined her hand. “It doesn’t look too bad, but we need to go have it looked at. Nina?” She fainted then, startling the Osirian.

“Nina!” Eddie screamed. He caught her, and pulled her up into his arms. He quickly went up the stairs, breathing heavily. It took him only a minute to reach the top of the stairs, Fabian and Alfie were looking down into the darkness. They heard Eddie’s frantic breathing. 

“Eddie, what happened?!” Fabian yelled. Eddie ran out into the daylight, not bothering to slow his pace.

“She-she cut her hand on the wall, and then fainted at the sight of it, I think. It was a blade on the wall, I believe, but it was hard to tell.”  
Everyone followed behind him, Fabian kept pace with Eddie and looked at her cut hand. He pulled out a handkerchief, and wrapped it around her hand, applying pressure on the wound. 

“You don’t think Robert did something to the blade or something, do you? Like with all his other traps?” Fabian asked, his brows furrowed. 

“No, I don’t think so. It was probably meant to stop people from scanning the walls for some sort of button or switch, which means there probably is something there.” Eddie panted. 

“Let me carry her, you can apply pressure on her hand,” Fabian said. 

Eddie didn’t look too sure. “Are you sure you can handle it?” Fabian glared at him. 

“Okay, here,” he stopped and passed Nina on to Fabian. Eddie took her hand.

Sibuna quickly took her to the house, it was quicker than going to the infirmary, and Trudy could handle her cut. 

“Oh dear, what happened?!” Trudy exclaimed, worry etched onto her face. Fabian carried her to the couch.

“She cut her hand and fainted at the sight of it,” Eddie said, letting go of her hand to let Trudy look at it. She examined the wound, her face tense. 

“What is it, Trudy?” Fabian asked. 

“Well, I don’t think she’s going to need stitches, but this is one nasty cut. How long has she been out?”

“A few minutes, why?” 

“She should be awake by now….” Trudy left to go get the first aid kit. Nina began stirring, while nine pairs of eyes looked down at her in concern.

 

It was dark, and Nina was alone. She started walking, looking for light. Suddenly, she was in a familiar house, the windows were opened, and a small breeze blew the white lacy curtains around. She saw a little boy run in the room, his dirty blonde hair spiked in every direction. 

“Come on, Nina!” The boy shouted, running out the backyard into the vivid green grass.

“I’m coming!” Little Nina shouted back. Her sandy blonde hair fell just to her shoulders, and she was wearing a dress she remembered to be her favorite. Outside, they were playing catch with a nerf football, the boy started talking.

“You know my dad lives somewhere far away, where they don’t have football.” 

“Really?!” Little Nina was surprised. “Where does he live?! I thought everyone played football.” 

“My mommy said he lived in some sort of kingdom,” the boy threw the ball back at Nina.

“Oooo, is he a king or prince?” she asked in wonder, catching the ball.

“I don’t know. Mommy said he’s a headmaster.” He sat down on the ground, Nina scooted up next to him. 

“That sounds important…,” Nina said. 

“One day, I’ll be a headmaster too, just like my dad,” said the boy. 

“I know you will, Eddie.” Little Nina said, smiling at him. 

Nina gasped. This was a memory, a deeply buried memory. But why was it so buried? 

“Best friends forever, right?” Eddie asked her, holding out his hand. 

“Best friends forever,” Nina agreed, and took his hand. 

“Nina, Eddie, the food is ready!” A woman called, her dirty blonde hair up in a tight ponytail. 

“Okay Mommy!” Nina called back, her and Eddie hand in hand ran into the house. Nina looked in through the window and saw her parents, chatting happily to a woman she recognized as Eddie’s mom, little Nina and Eddie running up to their mothers. Nina remembered why this memory was blocked off. This was the last memory she had of her parents, of her best friend, before everything fell apart.

 

“NO!” Nina screamed, jolting up off the couch, tears streaming down her face. Trudy, along with Sibuna, all hovered around hwe. Fabian had a pained look on his face, but he was trying to hide it. Patricia looked slightly angry and annoyed. Trudy tried to comfort Nina. 

“You hurt your hand and fainted…did you have a nightmare?” Nina quickly wiped the tears from her eyes. 

“Yeah, I did,” she nodded. 

“You were saying ‘Eddie’ in your sleep, Nina,” Patricia said through clenched teeth. Nina’s cheeks started to turn pink in embarrassment. Patricia sighed in anger, and stormed out of the room. 

“I’ll go talk to her,” Joy said, quickly following her out of the room.

“Why don’t you all give Nina some space,” Trudy suggested. 

“Is it alright if we stay?” Eddie asked, motioning to himself and Fabian. 

“Please,” Nina said, holding her head with her free hand. Everyone else left the room, including Trudy.

“What did you see?” Eddie asked her, knowing that it was more than just a typical nightmare. 

“Us…when we were little kids,” Nina looked into Eddie’s eyes. How could she have not recognized him before, even though they were only 4 years old at the time… “And my parents,” she finished. Eddie hung his head, and sighed. 

“That was you….” He couldn’t believe he didn’t realize it before. The little girl he spent all his time with when he was a little kid, his best friend that he never saw again after she moved away to live with her grandmother. That was Nina....

“What are you guys talking about?” Fabian asked, completely lost. 

“We knew each other when we were 4 years old,” she said, tears started making an appearance again. “We were best friends; our parents were good friends too. And then...when I lost my parents, I had to move away from Eddie to live with Gran.”  
Fabian leaned on the floor next to Nina on the couch. She sat up, and held her arms out for him. He quickly sat on the couch and held her, gently rubbing her back while she cried. 

“I think she kept that memory from surfacing all this time, losing her parents and her best friend all at once at such a young age was really traumatic,” Fabian said quietly to Eddie. 

“I knew I saw them before,” Eddie said. 

“What?” asked Fabian, still comforting Nina. 

“I’ve been having this dream about this couple, and I knew I recognized them. The woman…Nina’s mom, would end up screaming when something had sneaked up on her and the shock would wake me up. Nina would always be the first thing to come into my head when I woke up from that dream, and I didn’t know why. Now I guess I do.” Nina flinched; her dream was so real, like her mom was still there. 

“Eddie, could you go get Joy please? I need her to do something for me.” Fabian demanded urgently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just thought I'd put this here since I've had people in the past on Tumblr get upset:
> 
> I ship Fabina/Peddie/Amfie/Jeroy. I adore them all so much, and will almost always have them be end game.
> 
> I love Neddie as friends, I think they're adorable and didn't get _nearly_ enough time together. They had so much potential.
> 
> I may have other ships happen in my story, but that doesn't mean I absolutely ship them and they're my OTP, nor does it mean they'll be end game.


	14. Chapter 14

Eddie ran upstairs, and knocked on Patricia’s door. All the girls were inside, they were anxiously talking about Nina. Patricia was sitting on the bed with her headphones on her head. _Typical Yacker_ , Eddie thought.

“Joy, Fabian needs you for something. Bring your laptop,” Eddie said urgently.

“How’s Nina?” Amber asked, she was almost in tears, her best friend was clearly distraught about more than just her hand.

“She’s a bit better, Fabian’s with her,” Eddie’s tone calmed Amber a bit.

Joy walked out of the room with her laptop.

“So what was that all about?” Patricia asked, clearly jealous. “Girls don’t just say a guy’s name in her sleep and have it not mean anything,” Patricia snapped.

“Look Yacker, I’ll explain everything later. I have to take care of something first.” Eddie turned for the door.

“Yeah, Nina,” Patricia mumbled. “It’s her you really like, isn’t it?!” she spat.

Eddie stopped, turning to look at Patricia, there was hurt written on his face for a split second before he shut the door.

“Patricia!” KT couldn’t believe Patricia actually believed that.

“What? He does, you can tell just by looking at them.”

KT crossed her arms and sat in front of Patricia on her bed. “No, because you don’t remember what he said to you when you were on Team Evil.”

Patricia looked like she didn’t care, but deep down she wanted to know what she was talking about.  
KT continued.

“The look he gave you was enough to make anyone believe he was in love with you, but then he tried to remind you of all your memories together. He asked if you still cared, and said if you didn’t, it might as well be the end of everything. He doesn’t look at Nina the same way he looks at you,” KT paused for a second, hoping that would sink in. “So what, they have a connection. Just because people have a connection, doesn’t mean that that’s who they’ll end up with.” KT tried to reassure her. “And what you just said to him, it really hurt him. I saw his face.”

“You think so?” Patricia asked her.

“Yes, we know so,” Amber said, joining KT. “It’s you he likes. Obvi…” she rolled her eyes as if this was common knowledge.

Patricia smiled, and playfully pushed Amber.

“I need to go talk to him,” Patricia started to get up.

“I don’t think you should right now, wait for him to calm down a bit first,” Willow suggested. “Otherwise you two might end up fighting.”

“Yeah, we do that a lot…” she said, a bit of humor in her tone.

 

“So, what do you need me for?” Joy asked, standing by the side of the couch.

“I need you to find Nina’s family tree,” Fabian said, scooting away from Nina so Joy could sit there.

Joy sat down, her laptop on her lap, and quickly opened it. Before she went to work, she turned to Nina.

“Are you okay?” she asked, nothing but concern in her voice.

Nina slightly nodded. “Yeah…I think so, thank you Joy,” she smiled genuinely at her.

Joy returned her smile.  
Then she went to the website she went to last term, where she found out her and Willow shared their family tree.

Eddie looked at the screen from the back of the couch.

Joy found the Martin’s family tree. Her parents were Judy and Markus Martin. They were Archaeologists in Egypt. There were pictures of them in front of pyramids and tombs on the website….  
Nina was staring at her parent’s faces; she could vaguely remember the sound of her parents laughing.  
Fabian recognized Nina’s Gran, and looked over on Judy’s side of the family and saw a name he also knew.

“Uh…Nina?”

“Hmm?” she said, continuing to look at the pictures.

“Look at your mother’s side of the family tree,” he said in astonishment.  
She trained her eyes on Judy’s side of the family tree.

Judy Martin’s mother was Sarah Frobisher-Smythe.

“Sarah?!” Nina said in bewilderment. “She was my…my grandmother?”

“Not only that, but you’re related to KT as well.” Eddie piped in.

“Two Frobisher’s…” Fabian quietly said. “That would explain why the picture in the locket looks so much like you.”

“So that means Robert is you great-grandfather, like KT,” said Eddie.

“Then why isn’t KT the Chosen One?” Nina asked.

“The Chosen One has to be a descendant of Amneris, right? KT’s not, because Robert isn’t a descendant. That would mean Louisa Frobisher-Smythe is…”

The four of them stared at the screen a moment.

“And what happened to my parents?” Nina asked, looking down at the keyboard.

“Fabian and I will see if we can find anything, Nina,” Joy said. “You should rest, you had a very busy day,” Joy patted Nina’s shoulder gently.

“Yeah, just rest Nina. We’ll figure it out, don’t worry,” Fabian and Joy got off the couch and went to the table to continue their research.

“I’m going to go get KT, and explain things to her,” Eddie pushed off of the back of the couch, and went back up the stairs.

Only hearing Joy and Fabian’s hushed conversation, and keys tapping, Nina was able to start sorting through everything in her head. Her hand stung, but it wasn’t too bad at the moment. What needed rest was her mind, but she couldn’t get it to settle down.  
In one day, she found out her parents were not in fact killed in a car accident. Eddie was the best friend she lost when she was a young girl, who just so happened to be her protector. Sarah and KT were both relatives she never knew she had….

Eddie returned a short while later, and sat on the chair next to the couch. Quietly, he said, “I told her about what we’ve figured out. She wants to talk to you, but I told her to let you rest.”

“Thanks, Eddie,” Nina whispered.

Eddie nodded, and started to get up.

“Eddie?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah?”

She held her hand out. “Friends forever, right?”  
Eddie looked at her hand and smiled, taking her hand just the way they did when they were kids. They became so different over the years, and spent so long apart that _best friends_ wouldn’t be the right wording for them right now now.

“Forever.”

 

“How are you feeling, Nina?” Trudy asked her, setting a bowl down on the table.

“Better, thanks,” she put some food on her plate, though she wasn’t particularly hungry.

Skylar was quietly eating his dinner again, not bothering to talk to anyone. KT watched him, wondering what his problem was.

Amber sat loyally next to Nina, Fabian on her other side, and Eddie next to him. She had a rough day, and they wanted her to know they were there for her.  
Dillan looked up and Amber and smiled, she grinned and looked down at her plate. Alfie glared at Dillan, but he didn’t notice.

Everyone ate in silence; Skylar was the first one to leave the table, expectantly. KT had had enough of his attitude, and pushed her chair away from the table and went after him.

“Hey!” she shouted, he was already halfway up the stairs.

“What?” he replied back, venom in his voice.

“What’s your problem? Why are you being so rude to everyone?”

Skylar scoffed, shaking his head and continued up the stairs.  
“Ugh!” KT groaned, balling her hands into fists and re-entering the dining room. “What is that guys’ problem?!”

Everyone stared at her with raised eyebrows.

“What? Doesn’t he get under your guys’ skin, too?”  
Patricia inhaled, looking back at her plate without saying a word, even though she wanted to.

“Yeah, he does mine. He’s the worst roommate you could possibly ask for,” Dillan grumbled, using his fork to point toward the door. “The guy doesn’t even know me, and he treats me as if I’m some sort of villain,” He shook his head, and stood up. “I gotta go work on the French homework,” he said glumly, his shoulders slumped. “See you guys later.”

Sibuna waited until he was out of the room.

“After dinner, we need to have another Sibuna meeting. There’s a lot we need to tell you,” Eddie said, glancing at Nina who was looking down at the food on her plate, pushing her food around.


	15. Chapter 15

Up in Nina’s room, Sibuna gathered around

“No way!” Patricia exclaimed, her mouth open in shock.

“KT and Nina are related?!” Amber kept looking back and forth at Nina and KT. “I knew that….”

“And that’s not all…” Nina said, looking off to the side. “Sarah is my grandmother.”

“Whoa. Well that makes sense, actually, considering she was the Chosen One before you.” Alfie pointed out.

“Yeah, Joy and I are looking into what happened to Nina’s parents. Eddie’s seen a vision of them, and it doesn’t look like they died from a car accident.” Fabian told Sibuna.

Amber looked concernedly at Nina, and walked over to Nina to give her a hug. “I’m so sorry, Nina. No wonder you’ve had such a bad day…”

Nina barely smiled and hugged her back.

“It’s okay, I’m just really glad I have you guys.” She glanced around at the nine faces smiling at her.

“Oh, and there’s just one more thing…” Eddie started, bracing himself in case Patricia retaliated against what he was about to say.

Most of Sibuna looked at him curiously; they could tell it was going to be big by the way he was tensed up.

“Patricia, Nina and I…we’re childhood friends. We were best friends, actually.”

“What?” she asked, her facial expression tightened.

Amber and Joy quickly turned to Fabian in shock, but Fabian didn’t appear phased. He already knew.

“How did you not know before you were childhood friends?” Willow questioned. “How is it now that you’ve come to this realization?”

“When I was unconscious after fainting…I had this dream, and it was of an old memory I had buried from years ago,” Nina explained. “The reason we were separated was because after my parents died, I had to move in with Gran, who lived a long ways from Eddie, so I never saw him after the day I found out about my parents. I ended up burying those memories as a kid, and Eddie went along with them.”

“And I always knew she seemed familiar, but I just couldn’t put it together that Nina was the Nina from my past. We were so little then.”

“This is unreal….” Joy said, barely above a whisper.

“That’s Sibuna for you…” Amber said.

“At least a lot of it makes sense now,” said Fabian.

“Patricia?” Eddie asked, she was looking down at the floor, an intense look on her face. “Patricia?” he asked again. In response, Patricia quickly left the room without a word.

Eddie quickly got up, gave Nina and Fabian a worried look, before he went after her.

 

“Wait!” Eddie caught up to her, and gently tugged her arm to stop her. “What’s wrong?”

He tried to get Patricia to look at him, but she wouldn’t face him.

“Yacker, talk to me. Please.” Pain started to show itself in his voice, and Patricia picked up on it.

A tear trailed down her cheek.

“Look at me,” he whispered. Patricia obeyed. “What is it?” Eddie asked gently.

“I’m such a horrible person,” Patricia said. “Here Nina’s going through all of this, and I’m over here jealous. Jealous that you’ll end up liking her more than me, and I know I shouldn’t, but-”  
Patricia couldn’t continue, because Eddie kissed her to shut her up.

“You are not a horrible person. If you were, I wouldn’t be standing here in front of you right now. All this stuff with Nina and I, it’s a lot. I understand where you’re coming from, but believe me when I tell you that you are the only one for me, Yacker. No matter what happens, that’s not going to change.”  
Eddie held out his arms, waiting for her to hug him.

She looked at him a moment, letting what he just said sink in, and wrapped her arms around Eddie’s neck.

 

“We need to go back to the Summer House.” Nina said.

“What? No.” Fabian said firmly denied.

“We’ll just need to bring more light down there, and it should be fine. We HAVE to find that necklace before Victor does.” Nina looked concerned. “I won’t let what’s going on affect what we need to do.”

“I’ll go down there with Nina, make sure she’s okay.” KT told Fabian, hoping it’d ease his mind a little.

“I’ll go too, then.” Fabian stated.

“No. I’m not putting you in any unnecessary danger, Fabian.”

“Yet KT gets to go?” Amber asked angrily.

“We’re family, she might need me for something,” KT answered, smiling at Nina.

“I’m not sure about this…” Fabian said as Eddie walked back in with Patricia.

“Sure about what?” Eddie asked him.

“Nina and KT are going back to the Summer House.”

“No,” Patricia spoke, “we won’t let you go alone.”

“I’ll go,” Alfie volunteered. Willow looked at Alfie, her smile turned into a frown.

“And of course, I’ll be going,” said Eddie.

Nina took in a deep breath. “It’s settled then. Let’s go.”

 

“Are you sure about this?” Fabian asked her one last time, standing at the Summer House door with Nina.

“We have to do this…I have to do this. I’ll be fine.”

Fabian gave her an unsure glance, and then quickly hugged her, whispering “Be careful,” before he let her go. Nina nodded.

The group of four looked down into the darkness.

“Ready?” Nina asked them.

Eddie, KT, and Alfie gave one stiff nod before they started walking down the stony steps.

“Now be careful, who knows what traps are down here. And be careful of the walls.” Eddie warned.

They slowly descended the steps, shining the four flashlights all over the walls and steps, just in case.

“So we’re looking for some sort of button or switch or lever?” Alfie asked.

“Yeah, something like that.” Eddie replied, scanning the walls with the light.

They searched in silence, carefully looking around without touching anything.

“Hey, there’s a picture over here!” KT shouted, a few feet away from the others.

They quickly rushed over, the four of them staring at the painting.

“Who’s that?” Alfie asked.

Nina and KT looked at each other and then back up at the painting.

“It’s my grandpa…” KT said, her eyebrows furrowed.

“Do you think something might be behind it?” Nina looked at the three with uncertainty. She certainly didn’t want to touch anything else, just in case.

“We could always look,” Alfie said, hastily taking the picture off the wall. Another blade came out of the wall, slightly cutting Alfie’s hand.

“Oww!” Alfie yelled, shaking his left hand.

Eddie shined his flashlight on Alfie’s hand. It only barely broke the skin.

“Don’t worry Alfie, it’s not bad.” Eddie said.

“Good…” he replied, KT, Eddie, and Nina turned toward the wall again.

“Look, a button!” Nina exclaimed, pressing it. A stone door slowly slid open.

“Yes!” KT, Eddie, and Nina said in unison, giving each other high fives.

“Guys….” Alfie whispered weakly.

“Hmm?” KT said, distracted.

Alfie groaned before fainting on the hard stone ground.

“Alfie!” Nina shrieked, immediately on the ground trying to figure out how to help him.

“Why would he faint? It’s barely a scratch!” Eddie asked, slightly panicked.

“I don’t know, but we have to get him out of here,” KT said.

Nina, Eddie, and KT managed to drag Alfie up the stairs and back out into the soft green grass where they set him down.


	16. Chapter 16

“What happened?!” Willow asked, bending down next to him.

Amber did the same.

“He cut his hand on a little blade and fainted, like Nina did, but it’s not nearly as bad. See?” Eddie grabbed Alfie’s arm, and they looked at his cut.

“Then why would he faint?” Joy asked, confused. “I thought Nina just passed out from the sight of it.”

Jerome looked down at his best friend with worry. He felt the panic and worry he felt when Alfie drank that fake elixir 3 terms ago.

“That’s what we’re going to find out. We have to get him back to the house,” Fabian said, looking at Eddie and Jerome.

Before they could do anything, Alfie began stirring.

“Is he waking up?” KT asked.

He began thrashing around, mumbling “no” several times before he began screaming it louder and louder after each word.

“Alfie?” Willow said gently. “Alfie, it’s okay, you’re okay….” She looked up at the gang with worry on her face.

“Come on Alfie, wake up!” Amber nearly shouted, scared of what was happening to him.

“This is what happened to Nina,” Fabian suddenly realized. “A cut, fainting, and then a nightmare. What if something was on that blade that’s causing this?”

Sibuna gave each other looks, knowing Fabian was right.

“Another one of Robert’s traps,” Eddie grumbled.

Nina started shaking her head in disbelief. “Looks like we’re going in the right direction for the Necklace then….”

“So it’s some sort of venom or poison on the blade that causes people to pass out and have vivid nightmares?” Jerome asked, his eyes wide with worry.

“It would seem so, there was some venom on the threads down in the last tunnels. One of them caused hallucinations,” Fabian explained, “thankfully we never found out what was on the red ones, but who knows what we’ll come across down in those tunnels.”

“Did you find the button?” Joy asked Nina.

“Yeah, KT found the painting it was hidden behind and Alfie removed it from the wall…” Nina replied, feeling bad Alfie was the one to get hurt this time.

Joy saw the hurt on Nina’s face. She had spent all her time finding the bad things about Nina, hating her. Now she realized Nina really was a good person at heart.  
Joy put her arm around Nina, hoping to comfort her.

“Nina, don’t feel bad. It’s not your fault this happened to Alfie. We’re Sibuna, we’re a team and we know what we’re getting into.” She said to Nina, giving her a serious look. “You and Eddie might be destined to save the world together, but we’re part of it too. You’re just going to have to get used to it.” Nina cracked a smile, Joy had made her feel better. She gave Joy a genuine smile back.

“Thank you, Joy, I really needed that.”

“AHHH!” Alfie screamed, bolting up off the ground in horror.

 

Alfie woke up, glancing around in a panic, breathing heavily. It took him a moment to remember that what he had just seen were merely memories, they weren’t happening now. Well, most of them anyway.

“Alfie! What is it, mate?” Jerome asked him once Alfie’s heart began to slow.

“I saw…like, a montage of bad memories.” Alfie shook his head, trying to clear them away. “I saw myself down in that cupboard in the cellar with that guy in the Anubis mask coming at me. I saw when I fell down that hole when we were trying to get the Mask. And I saw….” Alfie glanced at Amber, and then quickly looked away. “…Nevermind.” Alfie had also seen Amber and Dillan talking to each other on the grass, the look she gave him. That was the look she used to give _him_ ….

“Are you alright?” Nina asked him in a gentle tone.

“Yeah. I’ll be okay.” He got to his feet, and shook off the remaining fear brought on from the nightmares. “What are we doing standing around here for? We’ve got a necklace to find!” Alfie exclaimed.

“You sure you’re alright?” Patricia asked, uncertain.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” He walked into the darkness.

Sibuna gave each other worried looks before they too joined Alfie.

“Wow it’s really dark in here,” Patricia commented. “I like it.”  
Eddie chuckled.

“Whatever you do, don’t touch the walls,” Nina told them, being careful to keep away from the walls herself.

Ten flashlights' glow danced around the walls.

“Look, a bunny rabbit!” Alfie called cheerfully, making a rabbit with his fingers on the wall.  
A few people chuckled. It seemed he was the same old Alfie as before, and that the bad memory flashes didn't affect his mood.

“So there’s the door…” Willow said, she seemed a bit hesitant to go through it.

“It’ll be okay,” KT assured her. “I’ll walk in with you if it helps.”

“Aw, thank you KT!” Willow put her arm through KT’s and skipped through the door.  
Jerome laughed and shook his head.

The rest of the group followed them in.

“Whoa, look at this place!” KT cried, looking up at the ceiling and back to the walls.

 

“What is it?!” Eddie pressed, worrying about what was on the wall.

“There’s good news and bad news,” answered Fabian.

“Let’s hear the good news first,” Alfie suggested.

“Okay…the good news is, there are fewer tasks than the last tunnels.” Fabian said positively.

“Alright, what’s the bad news?” Patricia asked.

“The bad news is that we’re going to be going through more rigorous tasks than the ones from the last tunnels.”

Patricia, Nina, and Amber groaned. “Great.” Nina said irritated.

“Is it too much to ask for just ONE term where nothing bad goes on?” Patricia whined.

“What’s the first task then?” Alfie asked, not exactly pleased either, but he at least didn’t look like he dreaded it.

“A puzzle,” Fabian announced. “A jigsaw puzzle.”

Sibuna began searching the room for what might be pieces to a puzzle or indents for where the pieces might fit.

“Here’s something!” Amber called.

Fabian and Jerome were the first ones to see what Amber was talking about.

“Wow, look at that,” Jerome said, Fabian felt the indents in the wall where the pieces should go.

“Where do we find the pieces?” Willow asked curiously.

Nina and Eddie looked at each other.

“We’ve always helped through the dollhouse, a riddle, or a vision. So I guess we look for a riddle, and if not, we have to do some research and hope for the best,” Nina said.

“Wait, what’s this?” KT pointed up on the wall, there was already a puzzle piece in place.

Joy reached up and took the puzzle piece off the wall.

She flipped it over; it was surprisingly covered in dust.

“This must have been here a really long time,” she said, brushing all the dust off.

She handed the piece to Nina, who then read the riddle aloud.

“’To find the pieces that you seek, the first place to look is quite bleak.

Where you have found the Mask, are the pieces to your next task.”


	17. Chapter 17

_Back at Anubis House._

“Where is everyone?” Trudy asked the boys who were lounging in the living room.

“I don’t know. They’re almost never here,” Dillan commented.

“Hmph,” Skylar made an annoyed face.

“Why don’t you boys get to know each other,” suggested Trudy, before she went into the laundry room to take care of the pile of laundry.

“I’d rather chew on glass,” Skylar sneered.

Dillan looked at him, both angry and a bit hurt, before he left for his room.

Skylar smiled. “Alone at last,” he sighed while pulling out his phone.

He dialed.

“Dad, just called to let you know how things are going…call me when you can.” Skylar shut his phone off, and sat on the couch for a minute staring at it.

His father was always busy, and usually very hard to reach. He was really the only friend he had, and he wanted to make him proud, so here he was at this boarding school, trying to find the Isis Necklace for his father and Victor.

He got off the couch, grabbing his coat, and walked out the front door.

Skylar was told the Necklace would be found at the Summer House, which was located toward the outskirts of the woods. Quickly and discreetly, he ran through the trees. He eventually found the Summer House.

Skylar searched around for a way in, when he found the opened door leading into the tunnels.

‘Okay, this is too easy…’ Skylar thought before he cautiously walked down the stairs.

He made it into the first room, using the light from his phone to see in the darkness.

“Another opened door?” Skylar whispered, wondering why something so special and what should be heavily guarded was open for anyone to get.

What if someone already took the Necklace long ago?

Suddenly he heard voices.

“The tunnels that held the mask also hold the puzzle pieces?” Amber asked.

“We don’t have enough amulets for us all to go down into the tunnels.” Nina pointed out.

“About that…” Eddie began. “I kind of sort of broke the light down there last term…”

Everyone gave him a look that said “What are you talking about?”   
“I had to hide in the tunnel because Victor and Denby were coming, and I had her purse. The light started scanning me and I had to do something, so I searched her bag, found her mirror, and the reflection off of it must’ve hit where the light was coming from and broke it.”

Patricia, Nina, Amber, Fabian, and Alfie all stared at him.

“So we went through all of THAT when all we needed was a mirror?” Alfie said, shaking his head.   
“I went BLIND when all I needed was to pull my mirror out?! See, I told you mirrors come in handy,” Amber said, brushing her hair back.

Skylar listened in on their conversation. He had no idea what tunnels they were talking about, but they did. He had to keep a closer eye on these guys if he was going to get to the Necklace.

 

Skylar quickly ran out of the room.

“Hey, did you hear that?” Eddie asked, holding out his hand to stop their talking.

“No, probably just your imagination, Eddie,” Jerome said, patting him on the back.

Nina looked at Eddie with concern. She trusted him, and if he says he heard something, he probably did.

“It was probably just a rat, or something,” Fabian said, nodding at Eddie.

“Yeah…yeah…” Eddie said, staring at the door.

“Let’s head back to the house, we can look in the tunnels tomorrow.” KT suggested, her and Willow started for the door first.

Skylar ran as fast as he could to Anubis House. He had to update Victor on this new piece of information.  
He loudly opened the front door, and started for the stairs.

“What’s the rush, boy?” Victor demanded  
.  
“I-“ Skylar began, panting. “I need puzzle pieces in order to get through the next door,” he coughed. “They’re somewhere in ‘the tunnels that held the mask’.

Victor’s eyes grew wide. “How do you know this?”

“The students are down there. I overheard them talking.”

“So they’re after the Necklace as well…” Victor said to himself. “I want you to follow them down there, they’ll find out where those pieces are located, and you’ll take them before they’ll have the chance.”

“Yes sir,” Skylar nodded. Victor patted his shoulder, and smiled his devious grin.

“Tomorrow before school, let’s go down into the tunnel.” Nina suggested as they were walking back from the Summer House.

“Aww, no breakfast then?” Alfie pouted.

“We’ll grab something on the way down,” Nina patted him on the shoulder.

“Tonight after supper, we’ll explain what’s down in the tunnels,” Fabian said. “Some of you have been down there, and others haven’t. Even though all the tasks have been completed, it’s still not the safest place. We’ll have to start from the very beginning, instead of through the shortcut in the library.”

“Where could the pieces be though?” Joy asked.

“Somewhere in plain sight, probably,” Patricia answered.

“At least this time we just have to get it before Victor, instead of getting it before Senkhara decides it’s over.” Amber said.

 

Sibuna walked into the living room.

“We’ll meet at 9:30 in Nina’s room to explain the tunnels,” Fabian said, he and Nina left, walking back outside.

Skylar was hiding behind the wall in the hall, listening in on their conversation.

“Joy, come with me,” Jerome held his hand out for her to grab. She was sitting in the chair.

She reached up, taking his hand, and stood. They too, headed for the front door.

“9:30!” Eddie called, grinning at Jerome.

Jerome shook his head, smiling. “We’ll be there,” he said before shutting the door.

“Oh Yacker, I got a new CD when I went into town with my dad.”

“Aw nice! Can I hear it?”

“Yeah, and you’ll never believe what happened…” they walked down the hall and into Eddie’s room.

“Alfie, is it alright if I hang out with KT for awhile?” Willow asked him.

“Yeah, sure. Go ahead…”

“Squee!” she squealed, quickly leaving the room.

 

That just left Amber and Alfie, alone.

“...So, how was fashion school?” Alfie asked after a few beats of awkward silence.

“It was nice, I created a lot of outfits and sent most of them to Nina,” she said.

“Not that I’m not happy about it, but why’d you leave?” He didn’t understand, Fashion School was something Amber seemed to really enjoy.

“Well, I wasn’t able to live up to my full potential there….” Amber sounded like she had more to add on.

Alfie waited.

“And I missed you all too much. People in Fashion School are SO annoying. I mean hello, you don’t wear plaid with stripes.” She said rolling her eyes.

Alfie smiled.

“But what about Victor, Sweet, and your dad? How were you able to get back in?”

“I convinced Daddy that the school wasn’t the right fit for me, and he agreed. So I pestered him until he agreed to let me come back. I knew Victor and Sweet would be difficult, but Daddy persuaded them to let me back in.”

“Nice!” Alfie exclaimed, holding out his hand for a high-five. Amber did the same.

Dillan appeared in the doorway, clearing his throat.

“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” he asked.

“No, hi Dillan.” Amber said.

“Amber, I was wondering if I could talk with you for a minute?” Dillan motioned his head toward the empty hallway.

“Sure,” she said, getting off the couch.

“Hey Alfie,” Dillan said with a friendly smile.

Alfie just slightly waved his greeting, his mouth turned down in a frown.

‘When will these feelings go away?’ Alfie thought to himself angrily.


	18. Chapter 18

“Where are we going?” Nina asked Fabian.  


“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise,” he replied.  


Fabian took Nina’s uninjured hand.  


“How’s your hand doing?”  


“It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt much anymore,” Nina said, looking at the bandage on her palm.  


“That’s good.”

They walked in silence for a few moments.

“Nina, about you and Eddie..” Fabian started.  


“Yeah?”  


“What if you being back IS dangerous…but only for you and Eddie.” Fabian wondered.  


“I don’t know. But I had to come back, everything in me was telling me to return. And I couldn’t just ask Eddie to leave the school, not with his dad and Patricia. Eddie thought it was a good idea to come back anyway. Last term when I said I wasn’t, he said we could work around it, find out how to make it work, but I insisted it wasn’t a good idea.”  


“That is definitely something we’re going to have to look into. I can’t let anything happen to you again,” he said, shaking his head, looking down at the ground.  


“Oh Fabian. Between you and Eddie, nothing’s going to happen to me,” she said, hoping to reassure him.  


Fabian smiled at her, but it didn’t meet his eyes. They were still filled with worry.  


Nina stopped walking.  


"Fabian, nothing is going to happen to me this term, okay?” She gave him a hug, he held her a bit tighter than usual. He hoped she was right.  


“Now about this surprise,” she started, grinning from ear to ear.  


“We’re almost there…” Fabian said, starting to lead her in the direction of the surprise.

A couple minutes later they were in front of the school. A cab idled in front of it.  


Nina looked at Fabian in confusion.  


“I figured since we never made it to the movies before, we should now before something else stops us from going.”  


Nina smiled, shaking her head. “Nothing’s going to happen. But this is great! What are we seeing?” she asked climbing into the cab.  


“I was thinking we could see…” he began before he shut the cab door.

 

“A romantic stroll on the school grounds huh?” Joy asked, holding Jerome’s hand.  


“Well, that and a picnic,” Jerome looked at her from the corner of his eyes, keeping a straight face.  


“When did you-?”  


“When you were helping out Fabian and Nina. I thought you’d be a bit stressed, searching rigorously about Nina’s parents and all.” Joy had filled Jerome in on what she was doing with Fabian.  


“I never knew Nina had such a difficult past. I feel so bad for how I always treated her. And here I thought _my_ family was a bit messed up.”  


“I know, it makes you grateful that we still have our parents no matter how crazy they are…” Jerome said, looking deep in thought.  


“How’s your dad doing?” Joy asked.  


“Good, Poppy’s insisting she’s Dad’s favorite now because she spends much more time with him whilst I’m here. Dad says that’s not true though.”  


“Poppy…” Joy said, playfully rolling her eyes. “Still, I wish I wasn’t an only child. Willow’s the closest I have to a sister.”  


“It’s amazing how you were able to find out that you two were related.”  


“Yeah, we did spend quite a lot of time together over the holiday. She says even though you cheated on her, you’re still a great guy deep down. And that you’re good for me.”  


Jerome faced Joy, his hands resting on her shoulders.

“Does she now?”

Joy shrugged, and looked at a tree near them.

“And what do _you_ think, Joyous?”

That nickname. Every time he said it, it made her blush.

“Um, I think she’s right,” she replied, still looking away.

“Do you?” He asked, grabbing her face to make her look at him.

He leaned in and kissed her.

As much as she always liked Fabian, Jerome really understood her. She would never have this with Fabian.

“Come on, I’m starving,” Jerome said, taking her hand and walking quickly to the basket filled with food lying under a canopy of trees.

 

“So what’s this about Skylar?” Willow asked KT in a suspicious tone as soon as the door was shut.

“What? Psh, there’s nothing with Skylar,” KT replied, refusing to make eye contact with Willow.

Willow raised her eyebrows.

“Then why do you care about him?”

“I don’t! I just hate how he treats everyone!”

Willow started to grin.

“Willow!” KT whined, stomping her foot. “I don’t actually LIKE him.”

“Yes you do,” she said through her grin. “You know how I know?” she hedged.

“How?” KT said, clearly not amused, sitting on her bed.

“It’s simple. You pay attention to him. If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t give him attention,” Willow said, pleased with herself.

KT looked away, sighing.

“It’s okay; you clearly see something in him you think is worth getting to know. I say follow what your heart tells you.” Willow suggested, sitting next to KT. “But before you decide, just know that I did sense some good vibes from him. He’s not that mean deep down. I suggest you get to know him to see why he is the way he is. You never know what could happen.”

KT smiled at her in appreciation before giving her a thank-you hug. Willow seemed to always know what those around her were thinking and feeling. Usually it was a good thing, but where Alfie is concerned, not so much. She sensed Alfie still had feelings for Amber, and how could she blame him? Amber IS amazing after all.

Willow wasn’t one to usually frown, but her grin vanished, and KT noticed.

“Willow? Is something wrong?” KT asked her, her voice concerned.

“Oh, it’s just Alfie. I can tell he still has feelings for Amber,” she confided, looking down at the floor.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it,” KT said soothingly, “Amber and Alfie have history. It makes sense for him to still have feelings for her, considering the way she left last term. But you two are perfect together, and he likes you. I know it. Just give him some time, he’ll come around.”

Willow nodded, feeling better. “Thanks KT,” she said smiling again, “I don’t think I would be able to confide in any of the other girls, even Joy.”

“Well, I’m here whenever you need me,” KT said.


End file.
